Mark Zuckerberg replaces Meta’s head of political operations with a top Republican

Mark Zuckerberg continues His campaign to gain support With the incoming Trump administration. After visiting Mar-a-Lago for dinner with the incoming president, and with other tech leaders donating $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund (what’s the real cost of an inauguration?), Zuckerberg has now replaced the head of Meta’s political arm with a new boss. The most prominent Republicans in the company. Semaphore previously I mentioned On the news.

Joel Kaplan most recently served as Vice President of Global Policy under Nick Clegg, who joined Meta (then Facebook) in 2018 after serving as UK Deputy Prime Minister under David Cameron. Clegg was something of a Obedient attack dog For Zuckerberg over the years, he served as the company’s voice defending it against journalists and politicians on controversial issues. According to the 2022 book “An ugly truth.” Clegg advised the leadership at Meta that regulation was inevitable, so it was better for the company to step forward and help create light rules rather than stricter ones. He also called for philosophical, or deflecting, criticism of Meta by directing attention toward China, something Zuckerberg did in seeking to ban TikTok.

“I am grateful for everything she has done for Meta and the world over the past seven years,” Zuckerberg said of Clegg in a statement. Semaphore. “I’ve learned so much working with you and our entire team is better for this opportunity. You’ve made a significant impact in promoting Meta’s voice and values ​​around the world, as well as our vision for AI and the Metaverse. You’ve also built a strong team to continue this work forward. I’m excited to Joel then takes on this role due to his deep experience and insight that has guided our policy work for many years.

Whatever Zuckerberg’s true feelings about Trump, he is ultimately a capitalist and will do whatever is in the best interests of his company. Clegg recently criticized Trump’s de facto vice president, Elon Musk, saying in an interview with The New York Times BBC That X is a “one-man, highly partisan, ideological dilettante.” Clegg also defended content moderation as necessary to protect audiences from harmful content, in stark contrast to Musk’s mission to eliminate any censorship.

Meanwhile, Kaplan, earlier in his career, served as White House deputy chief of staff under George W. Bush and reportedly argued internally at Meta. Against restrictions on political speech It also potentially hurts conservatives disproportionately.

It makes sense that he would be appointed as Meta’s new policy leader as Trump enters his second and final term, more aggressive and willing to attack than he was in his first term. Trump had no experience in politics when he last took office, and was later distracted by the pandemic. This time will be different, as his next team is said to be already preparing for a match A wave of executive actions This occurred within hours of taking office.

Meta reinstated all of Trump’s accounts after banning them in the wake of the January 6 Capitol riot, and Zuckerberg this summer went so far as to… We apologize for censoring the content During the Covid-19 pandemic he pledged never to be pressured again (Millions of people died Ignoring Covid-19 measures). Overall, Meta has deprioritized news content in its favor Artificial intelligence-driven interaction regression This is more subtle in nature. Zuckerberg raised his hands and said he didn’t want to deal with divisive content.

Trump responded in kind to these moves, Saying Last October, he said he liked Zuckerberg “much better now.”

Of course, Zuckerberg is not the only leader who sparred with Trump during his first administration and has now changed his tune. Leaders including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and Apple CEO Tim Cook also performed. Hajj to kiss the ring Having previously been vociferously attacked by Trump on a variety of issues. Ultimately, these leaders do not want to anger Trump again, and they will do whatever it takes to protect their empires. Especially since Musk, who has criticized Silicon Valley leaders and runs his own competing companies, now has Trump’s ear and can influence policy, or put his companies in line for preferential treatment.