Meta's Nick Clegg quits as the head of global affairs after 6 years

Nick Clegg, former president, global affairs, Meta

Nick Clegg, the former UK deputy prime minister and the president of global affairs at Meta, announced that he is moving on from his role at the social media giant after six years.

Clegg will be replaced by a prominent Republican face Joel Kaplan as the global affairs head, coming close to the swearing-in ceremony of the US president-elect Donald Trump on January 20.

Kaplan served as deputy chief of staff for policy under president George W Bush from 2006-2009.

“It truly has been an adventure of a lifetime!” Clegg wrote in a post on X. “I am proud of the work I have been able to do leading and supporting teams across the company to ensure innovation can go hand in hand with increased transparency and accountability, and with new forms of governance.”

Clegg, 57, joined Meta  in October 2018 when the company was grappling with several privacy and election meddling allegations including the Cambridge Analytica scandal. He was reporting to COO Sheryl Sandberg, who quit in 2022.

“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,” Clegg said, reflecting on his tenure in a leadership role in the Silicon Valley as the senior most senior European politician to ever do so.

“I hope I have played some role in seeking to bridge the very different worlds of tech and politics – worlds that will continue to interact in unpredictable ways across the globe.”

Before Meta, Clegg had been the leader of Britain's Liberal Democrats, the minority partner in the Conservative-led coalition that ruled Britain between 2010 and 2015.

He had served as deputy prime minister to David Cameron but was ousted after the Conservatives won a majority in 2015 in an election that saw Clegg's party suffer a significant loss of support.