Nick Clegg, former UK deputy prime minister, leaves Meta

Nick Clegg, Britain’s former deputy prime minister and Meta’s current president of global affairs, is leaving the company after six years.

“It truly has been an adventure of a lifetime!” Clegg said in a post on Facebook. “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.”

Clegg joined the Facebook parent company in 2018 as the social media platform’s vice‑president for global affairs and communications. At the time the company faced intense scrutiny over the Cambridge Analytica data scandal and its role in the 2016 US presidential election. He was promoted to the chief policy role in 2022 after he helped to establish the Facebook Oversight Board – an independent board that makes decisions on the social network’s moderation policies.

“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,” Clegg wrote. “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.”

Clegg will be replaced by his deputy, Joel Kaplan, who, Clegg wrote, “is quite clearly the right person for the right job at the right time”.