Clegg leaves Meta role as Republican promoted ahead of Trump presidency
2 January 2025, 19:44
Former deputy prime minister Sir Nick Clegg said his time with Facebook’s parent company had been the ‘adventure of a lifetime’.
Sir Nick Clegg is leaving his job as global affairs president with Facebook’s parent company Meta.
The former UK deputy prime minister said it was “the right time for me to move on” from the role acting as a bridge between the worlds of technology and politics.
In an announcement made just weeks before Donald Trump’s inauguration as US president, Sir Nick’s replacement will be former Republican White House deputy chief of staff Joel Kaplan.
As a new year begins, I have come to the view that this is the right time for me to move on from my role as President, Global Affairs at Meta. It truly has been an adventure of a lifetime! I am proud of the work I have been able to do leading and supporting teams across the… pic.twitter.com/pXEP4TZYVe
— Nick Clegg (@nickclegg) January 2, 2025
Mr Kaplan served under George W Bush from 2006 to 2009.
Former Liberal Democrat leader Sir Nick said: “As a new year begins, I have come to the view that this is the right time for me to move on from my role as president, global affairs at Meta.
“It truly has been an adventure of a lifetime!”
Sir Nick, who joined the firm which was then called Facebook in 2018 after losing his seat as an MP in 2017, said: “My time at the company coincided with a significant resetting of the relationship between ‘big tech’ and the societal pressures manifested in new laws, institutions and norms affecting the sector.
“I hope I have played some role in seeking to bridge the very different worlds of tech and politics – worlds that will continue to interact in unpredictable ways across the globe.”
He added: “Having worked previously for close to two decades in European and British politics, it has been an extraordinary privilege to gain a front row insight into what makes Silicon Valley such an enduring hub of world leading innovation.
“The pace and scale of change has been as dizzying as it has been ambitious.”
He said Mr Kaplan, his deputy at Meta, will now become the chief global affairs officer and was “quite clearly the right person for the right job at the right time – ideally placed to shape the company’s strategy as societal and political expectations around technology continue to evolve”.
Sir Nick said he would be spending “the next few months handing over the reins” and “then – as with each chapter in my lucky career in politics, Government and the private sector – I will move on to new adventures”.
Kevin Martin, who served as Federal Communications Commission chairman under George W Bush, will move into Mr Kaplan’s former role as vice president of global policy.
