Former Deputy Prime Minister Sir Nick Clegg has left Meta – parent company of Facebook and Instagram – after seven years ahead of Donald Trump’s return to The White House.
Sir Nick, who joined Facebook after losing his seat as a Liberal Democrats MP in 2017, said he would be replaced as president of global affairs by his deputy Joel Kaplan.
Kaplan is a Republican who served as deputy chief of staff under former US President George W Bush. The move is widely seen as a way of cultivating a positive relationship with President-elect Trump’s incoming administration.
Sir Nick, who returned to live in London in 2022 and whose role served as a bridge between the tech giant, governments and regulators, said Kaplan is “quite clearly the right person for the right job at the right time”.
“My time at the company coincided with a significant resetting of the relationship between ‘big tech’ and the societal pressures manifested in new laws, institutions and norms affecting the sector,” he said.
Moderation shift?
Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts were suspended for two years from 2021 after it accused him of praising those engaged in the riots at the Capitol which followed his defeat in the previous election.
Trump accused Meta of censorship and silencing conservative speech, going so far as to threaten to jail Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg if he interfered in the 2024 election. However Zuckerberg donated $1m to an inauguration fund following Trump’s victory as he seeks to ingratiate himself to Trump, with whom he dined recently at the latter’s Florida estate in Mar-a-Lago.
Social media industry analyst Jasmine Enberg told the BBC that “Meta, like other tech companies, has been rushing to curry favour with the incoming Trump administration”, adding that increased political polarisation on social platforms suggests the company may shift how it moderates political speech.
Open to AI
The Guardian reports that Sir Nick, 57, has sold $18.4m worth of Meta shares since joining the firm and still holds around $21m worth.
“The former party leader has not decided where he will work next, though allies say he is looking to take on a job in the field of artificial intelligence,” it added. “Clegg has argued against the regulation of AI, criticising the former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak last year for focusing on the dangers rather than the opportunities of the technology.
“Friends say Clegg is open to job opportunities in the public or private sector and wants to remain in Europe.”
Naked motivation
Financial columnist and author Matthew Lynn, writing in The Spectator, says Zuckerberg could live to regret Clegg’s departure despite his claim that “no one ever had much idea what he did all day anyway”.
“Meta could potentially face a break-up if the White House demands it… it makes sense to cosy up to the all-powerful Trump regime. Here’s the problem, however: it is far too transparent. He didn’t ever have much influence as deputy prime minister to David Cameron, and he likely carried even less weight as Zuckerberg’s PR handler.
“He didn’t have any real power. In reality, no one will be fooled that his departure will change anything very much. If Trump thinks Meta is nakedly trying to cosy up to him, he’s sure to notice – and it could easily come back to haunt Zuckerberg.”
Ran its course
Dave Lee, a US technology columnist for Bloomberg Opinion – and formerly of the FT and BBC News – said “Clegg’s role has outlived its purpose”.
“Clegg’s mandate had been to mop up the reputational carnage left behind by the Cambridge Analytica scandal. In Clegg, Meta had found an ambassador willing to work the halls of Brussels with his trademark persuasiveness and belief in the European project.
“In dealing with legislators, Clegg positioned himself as still one of them despite being on the payroll of one of the most powerful companies the world had ever seen. He was the statesman Meta needed when lawmakers the world over were contending with what it meant now that a Silicon Valley giant had arguably more influence than any one government.
“Meta’s newest political challenges call for an updated approach. Unlike the more public-facing role of Clegg, who did many media interviews and had long blog posts attributed to him, Kaplan has operated more in the shadows.”
Writing on wall
Harking back to Clegg’s support for Remain during the Brexit referendum, The Register writes: “He even penned a book called How to Stop Brexit (And Make Britain Great Again). A year after Britain voted to leave the European Union, Clegg’s constituents voted to make sure he left them too.
“With Musk and Trump so renowned for taking criticism calmly, maybe this is a good move for Clegg. After all, with a reported net worth of more than $30 million, he’ll have time for another prescient book along the lines of How I saved Western democracy by reining in social media.”
Writing in The i Paper, former editor-at-large of Sky News Adam Boulton asks: “Nick Clegg will hope to return to public service. But do we want him?”