Will democracy survive a second Trump presidency? A change of senior personnel at a social media company involving a former British deputy prime minister may not seem all too relevant to this heated discussion. But Nick Clegg’s decision to leave Meta as head of global affairs, and the choice of his successor, may point to how western democracy dies: not with fireworks, but through quiet attrition.
Clegg’s job will be taken over by his deputy, Joel Kaplan – a Republican who worked in George W Bush’s administration. He is someone who, according to a Washington Post report from 2020, pushed to block Meta taking action against “dozens of pages that had peddled false news reports” before the 2020 election, arguing it would “disproportionately affect conservatives”. As a columnist at MSNBC put it, his elevation is another sign that Meta is getting a “Maga-friendly makeover”.
