deadFormer Deputy Prime Minister Sir Nick Clegg will step down from his current role as head of global affairs at social media giant Meta.
In a post on Meta’s Facebook on Thursday, Sir Nick, the former leader of the Liberal Democrats, said he was leaving the company after nearly seven years.
He will be replaced by his current deputy, Republican Joel Kaplan, who previously served as deputy chief of staff in the White House during the administration of President George W. Bush, and is known for managing the company’s relations with Republicans.
He added that he would spend “a few months handing over the reins” and representing Facebook at international gatherings before moving on to “new adventures.”
Sir Nick’s resignation comes just weeks before Donald Trump returns to the White House.
The president-elect has repeatedly accused Meta and other platforms of censoring and silencing conservative speech.
His relations with Zuckerberg were particularly strained after Facebook and Instagram suspended the former president’s accounts for two years in 2021, after they said he praised those involved in the violence at the Capitol on January 6.
Most recently, Trump threatened to jail Zuckerberg if he interfered in the 2024 election, and even called for it. Facebook “Enemy of the People” in March.
However, tensions appear to be easing between the two, as the pair have dined at Trump’s Florida home at Mar-a-Lago since the US election.
Mr. Zuckerberg also congratulated him on his victory He donated $1 million (£786,000) to the opening fund.
Some analysts view Sir Nick’s departure as a signal of a changing of the guard in Washington.
He joined Facebook in 2018, after losing his seat as an MP in 2017. He was later promoted to head of global affairs, a prominent position at Meta.
In a statement announcing he was stepping down, Sir Nick said his successor Joel Kaplan was “quite clearly the right person for the right job at the right time”.
Trump was photographed with Kaplan at the New York Stock Exchange last month.
Jasmine Enberg, a social media industry analyst, said Kaplan is “probably the right person for the job at this political moment.”
She told the BBC: “Meta, like other tech companies, has been rushing to curry favor with the incoming Trump administration.”
She added that Sir Nick’s departure from Meta, and the increase in political polarization on social platforms, indicate that the company may change the way it moderates political discourse.
Different worlds
During his time at Meta, Sir Nick established himself not only as a spokesperson but also as a bridge between governments, regulators and the technology company.
As new regulations and legislation begin to force social media companies to take more responsibility for the content on their platforms and the consequences thereof, this role has become crucial.
He oversaw the creation of the Oversight Board, an independent body created to oversee Meta content moderation decisions.
However, he recently said that the company’s actions have often led to some people being “unfairly penalized” on its platforms.
Sir Nick has also been open about his views on close Trump ally Elon Musk, describing him as a political puppet master, claiming he has turned X, formerly Twitter, into “one man’s hyper-partisan hobby horse”.
The former Liberal Democrat leader moved to Silicon Valley initially but returned to London in 2022.
He said he is moving on to “new adventures” with “tremendous gratitude and pride” for what he has been a part of.
“My presence at the company coincided with a major reset in the relationship between Big Tech and societal pressures manifested in new laws, institutions and norms affecting the sector,” he said.
“I hope I have played some role in seeking to bridge the very different worlds of technology and politics – worlds that will continue to interact in unexpected ways across the globe.”
