Former UK deputy prime minister Nick Clegg leaves Meta

Nick Clegg, former deputy prime minister of Britain and Meta's president of global affairs, is stepping down after six years with the company.

“As a new year begins, I have come to the view that this is the right time for me to move on from my role as President, Global Affairs at Meta. It truly has been an adventure of a lifetime!," said Clegg 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,” he added.

Joel Kaplan, his current deputy, will take over the role of chief global affairs officer. Before joining the tech behemoth, Kalpan had served as deputy chief of staff for policy under President George W Bush from 2006 to 2009.

“Over the years that we have worked together, we have become good friends as well as close colleagues – I have laughed with, as well as learned from, Joel in equal measure. He is quite clearly the right person for the right job at the right time!" said Clegg.

"I much look forward to spending the next few months handing over the reins to Joel before finally leaving Meta after so many enjoyable years at the company,” he added.

Clegg joined Facebook (now Meta) in 2018 as vice president for global affairs and communications at a time when the firm faced scrutiny following the Cambridge Analytica data scandal and the company’s involvement in the 2016 US presidential election. 

In 2022, he was promoted to chief policy officer after playing a key role in establishing the Facebook Oversight Board, an independent body responsible for decisions on content moderation.

Before being elected to the UK Parliament in 2005, Clegg worked at the European Commission and spent five years as a member of the European Parliament. In 2007, he became a leader of the Liberal Democrat party and later served as the deputy prime minister in the UK’s first coalition government since the war from 2010 to 2015.