Joel Kaplan, who was a former senior adviser to George W. Bush, replaces Nick Clegg, who was a former deputy prime minister of Britain, as Meta’s head of policy.
Meta on Thursday appointed Joel Kaplan, a longtime executive who was a former senior adviser to George W. Bush and is known for his Republican ties, to be its new head of global policy, as the social media giant seeks to strengthen its links to the incoming Trump administration.
Mr. Kaplan replaces Nick Clegg, a former deputy prime minister of Britain who has handled policy and regulatory issues globally for Meta since 2018. In a post to his personal Facebook page, Mr. Clegg said that Mr. Kaplan was “quite clearly the right person for the right job at the right time, ideally placed to shape the company’s strategy as societal and political expectations around technology continue to evolve.”
Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s chief executive, thanked Mr. Clegg in a comment on his Facebook post for making an “important impact advancing Meta’s voice and values around the world.”
Mr. Zuckerberg and Meta are among many in the tech industry who have increasingly worked to forge direct relationships with President-elect Donald J. Trump in recent months. Before November’s election, Mr. Zuckerberg, Apple’s chief executive, Tim Cook, and Sundar Pichai, Google’s chief executive, started reaching out to Mr. Trump as they aimed to put themselves in a position to potentially benefit their businesses.
Last month, Meta donated $1 million to Mr. Trump’s inaugural fund. That move came just weeks after Mr. Zuckerberg met with Mr. Trump at Mar-a-Lago.
Mr. Kaplan has many roots with conservatives and the Republican Party. After attending Harvard Law School, he clerked for former Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and later served as former President Bush’s deputy chief of staff from 2006 to 2009. He joined Facebook in 2011 at the urging of Sheryl Sandberg, its former chief operating officer and a friend of Mr. Kaplan’s.
In a comment on Mr. Clegg’s Facebook post, Mr. Kaplan called the change “bittersweet” and said he was “honored” to follow in Mr. Clegg’s footsteps.
Mr. Clegg spent much of his time at Meta pushing its agenda on open-source artificial intelligence, campaigning for the company in the European Union and repairing relationships in Washington.
“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,” Mr. Clegg said on Thursday. He said he plans to remain at Meta for a few months, representing the company in international events before departing.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.