Former Deputy Prime Minister Sir Nick Clegg has announced his resignation as President of Global Affairs at Meta, the social media giant.
In a Facebook post on Thursday, Sir Nick, who previously led the Liberal Democrats, shared that he would be leaving the company after nearly seven years.
Joel Kaplan, currently Sir Nick’s deputy, will succeed him. Kaplan, a Republican, previously served as Deputy Chief of Staff under President George W. Bush and has managed Meta’s relations with Republicans.
Sir Nick stated that he would spend the next few months transitioning responsibilities and representing Meta at international events before embarking on “new adventures.”
His departure comes just weeks before Donald Trump’s return to the White House. The president-elect has frequently accused Meta and other platforms of censoring conservative viewpoints.
Relations between Trump and Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, have been notably strained since Facebook and Instagram suspended Trump’s accounts in 2021 for two years, citing his comments regarding the January 6 Capitol violence.
More recently, Trump has threatened legal action against Zuckerberg if he interferes in the 2024 election, even branding Facebook as an “enemy of the people” in March.
Despite past tensions, the relationship between Trump and Zuckerberg appears to be improving. The two have dined together at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate since the election, and Zuckerberg congratulated Trump on his victory while donating $1 million (£786,000) to his inauguration fund.
Sir Nick’s departure is seen by some analysts as a nod to the changing of the guard in Washington.
He joined Facebook in 2018, after losing his seat as an MP in 2017. He was later promoted to president of global affairs, a prominent position at Meta.
In a statement announcing he would step down, Sir Nick said his successor Joel Kaplan is “quite clearly the right person for the right job at the right time”.
Trump was photographed with Mr Kaplan at the New York Stock Exchange last month.
During his time at Meta, Sir Nick established himself not only as a spokesperson but also a bridge between governments, regulators and the tech firm.
As new regulation and legislation began to force social media companies to take more responsibility for the content on their platforms and the consequences of it, that role became crucial.
He oversaw the creation of the Oversight Board, an independent body set up to oversee Meta’s content moderation decisions.
He said recently, however, that the firm’s actions had resulted in some people being “unfairly penalised” on its platforms too often.
Sir Nick has also been open about his views on Trump’s close ally, Elon Musk, describing him as a political puppet master, claiming he has turned X, formerly Twitter, into a “one-man hyper-partisan hobby horse”.
The former Liberal Democrat leader moved to Silicon Valley initially but returned to London in 2022.
He said he was moving on to “new adventures” with “immense gratitude and pride” at what he had been part of.
“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.
“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.”