Mark Zuckerberg is switching places around at the top of Meta, the social media company he controls. In a move first reported by Semafor and that some observers noted could be a reflection of Zuckerberg's desire to make nice with a new Republican government, Joel Kaplan, a Meta veteran closely tied to influential GOP circles, will replace longtime policy chief Nick Clegg, the former UK deputy prime minister who announced his plans to resign long before last fall's election.
The changing of the guard at Meta seems to reflect a similar transition taking place in Washington and around the world. Clegg, a fixture in the UK's centrist Liberal Democrats party, was hired by Meta in 2018, back when it was called Facebook and dealing with accusations that it was used by Russia and other meddling groups to improperly sway the 2016 US presidential election.
While the company faced criticism from American lawmakers, the gravest threat came from Europe, where officials have much more leeway and willingness to enforce regulations on tech giants. Observers noted at the time that Zuckerberg hoped to make use of Clegg's European connections in navigating the regulatory landscape there.
Now, Zuckerberg's attention is turning homeward. He has already made moves to please President-elect Donald Trump, meeting with the president-elect at Mar-a-Lago after his election victory and donating $1 million to his inauguration fund. The elevation of Kaplan, who worked in former President George W. Bush's administration and has acted as Meta's link to Republican politicians, is a sign that Zuckerberg seeks to maintain or expand his influence with the incoming Trump administration, or at least avoid being shut out.
Meta has been in the crosshairs of officials on both sides of the political aisle who say variously that it has grown too large and powerful, is silencing (or amplifying) certain political voices, and is exploiting its users with unethical tactics. The company is currently battling a federal antitrust suit that was filed by Trump's first administration.
With Kaplan at the helm, Zuckerberg might hope he can avoid repeats of the $5 billion fine he had to pay over the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which user data was improperly collected by a British consulting firm for political advertising purposes.
