Mark Zuckerberg preps for Trump 2.0 by boosting an in-house Republican
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- Nick Clegg is leaving Meta. Joel Kaplan is replacing him as its top policy executive.
- Clegg joined Meta in 2018 to navigate European regulators amid election interference issues.
- Kaplan, with strong Republican ties, is seen as aligning Meta with Trump's Washington.
Seeya, Europe.
Hello again, Washington.
Trump's Washington, that is.
That's the way many people are interpreting a shake-up at the top of Meta: Longtime policy head Nick Clegg — formerly an influential British politician — is leaving the company. Clegg's replacement is Joel Kaplan, who has spent even more time at Meta — and who has extensive connections with the Republican Party that will be in control of Washington later this month.
This one seems pretty straightforward. The history: Clegg came to Meta in 2018, back when it was called Facebook and was reeling from allegations that it had been used by Russia and other bad actors to affect the 2016 US presidential election.
While Clegg had to deal with angry US lawmakers — the company eventually paid a $5 billion fine over the Cambridge Analytica scandal — he was hired at least in part to help Mark Zuckerberg navigate European regulators, who have been more aggressive than their US counterparts when it comes to Big Tech.
But now Zuckerberg will have to spend a lot of time trying to please — or at least not anger — Donald Trump and his allies. You can see Zuckerberg's tacit acknowledgment of the new reality in his postelection visit to Trump at the incoming president's Mar-a-Lago resort and his $1 million donation to Trump's inauguration committee. (You can also see a pre-election version of Zuckerberg's maneuvering in the way he dealt with Republican Jim Jordan's Judiciary Committee this past summer.)
And Kaplan seems like a good in-house option if you want to make nice with Republicans. He spent years working for the George W. Bush administration and has been Facebook/Meta's bridge to conservative politicians and players for a long time. And, crucially, he has been at the company since 2011, which means Zuckerberg trusts him. (Another sign of his in-house status — he got an onstage role at Zuckerberg's 40th birthday roast; see my colleague Katie Notopoulos's analysis of the "heinous form of athletic wear" Kaplan wore for that one.)
Here's the part where I tell you not to read too much into Kaplan's ascent and Clegg's departure, which was first reported by Semafor.
Meta, for instance, is currently battling a federal antitrust suit that was originally filed by Trump's first administration. That's unlikely to go away no matter who heads up policy. Navigating Europe will continue to be important for Meta. And Clegg had been discussing leaving Meta long before last fall's election, according to a person familiar with his conversations.
But this is also one of those cases where what it looks like — one of the biggest companies in the world, setting itself up for years of Trump 2.0 — is probably what it is. And it's going to be seen that way, regardless.
Which is probably how Zuckerberg and Trump both like it.