Meta taps Republican Joel Kaplan to lead global policy team, replacing Nick Clegg

(Reuters) – Tech giant Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:) has appointed prominent Republican Joel Kaplan as its chief global affairs officer, replacing Nick Clegg, the latter said in a post on social media platform Threads on Thursday.

In the run-up to President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, Kaplan will replace Clegg, a former British deputy prime minister and a prior leader of the country’s Liberal Democrats.

Clegg joined Meta in 2018 to run its global policy organization and has led on issues like Facebook’s content policy and elections, and spearheaded the establishment of the company’s independent content oversight board.

Kaplan did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment. Semafor earlier reported on Kaplan’s appointment.

Businesses across the board have been rushing to ensure favorable relations with Trump, in the aftermath of his November election win.

Meta has donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund, a company spokesperson told Reuters in December, months after CEO Mark Zuckerberg had declined to endorse either Donald Trump or Joe Biden for last year’s election, in a media interview that took place before Biden stepped down as the Democratic nominee and was replaced by Kamala Harris.

However, Trump and Meta have had strained relations in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election.

The president-elect accused Meta of suppressing content that would have hurt Biden in the 2020 election and also criticized Zuckerberg’s donations to bolster election infrastructure.