Photo: ANP
Nick Clegg, Britain’s former deputy prime minister, will be given a bigger role at the top of Facebook’s parent company Meta Platforms. The former British politician is already the most important policy director in the American group. But from now on, as ‘president for global affairs’, he will also report directly to CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who insiders say wants to focus more on technology and new product development.
Clegg, who has a Dutch mother and speaks Dutch fluently and without an accent, chose a career at Facebook’s headquarters in Menlo Park a few years ago. He served on behalf of the Liberal Democrats in the UK government between 2010 and 2015, along with Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron. Clegg is also deputy prime minister as party leader.
Because of Clegg’s promotion, Zuckerberg may have to defend himself more publicly in the future about, for example, the scandal involving Facebook. He could then leave more to Clegg, though Zuckerberg as CEO would still be the one to come to Washington if the US Congress asked for an explanation on things.
Facebook has recently received criticism that it has done too little against fake news and conspiracy theories. Clegg has stepped forward several times to maintain his company position. In October, for example, he called CNN’s claim that social media contributed to the storming of the Capitol in Washington early last year “ridiculous”. He also argued that Facebook had previously removed billions of fake accounts.
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