Meta Appoints Joel Kaplan to Lead Global Policy, Replacing Nick Clegg
Joel Kaplan, a former senior adviser to George W. Bush, replaces Nick Clegg, a former deputy prime minister of Britain, as Meta’s head of policy.
Joel Kaplan, a former senior adviser to George W. Bush, replaces Nick Clegg, a former deputy prime minister of Britain, as Meta’s head of policy.
Meta on Thursday appointed Joel Kaplan, a longtime executive who was a former senior adviser to George W. Bush and is known for his Republican ties, to be its new head of global policy, as the social media giant seeks to strengthen its links to the incoming Trump administration.
Mr. Kaplan, 55, replaces Nick Clegg, a former deputy prime minister of Britain who had handled policy and regulatory issues globally for Meta since 2018. In a post to his personal Facebook page, Mr. Clegg, 57, said Mr. Kaplan 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.”
Kevin Martin, who has worked at Meta on policy issues for years, will take over Mr. Kaplan’s previous role as vice president of public policy.
Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s chief executive, thanked Mr. Clegg in a comment on his Facebook post for making an “important impact advancing Meta’s voice and values around the world.”
Mr. Zuckerberg and Meta are among many in the tech industry who have increasingly worked to forge direct relationships with President-elect Donald J. Trump. Before November’s election, Mr. Zuckerberg, Apple’s chief executive, Tim Cook, and Sundar Pichai, Google’s chief executive, started reaching out to Mr. Trump as they aimed to put themselves in a position to potentially benefit their businesses.
Last month, Meta donated $1 million to Mr. Trump’s inaugural fund, just weeks after Mr. Zuckerberg met with Mr. Trump at Mar-a-Lago.
