Meta Promotes Clegg to Face Regulatory Heat

Mark Zuckerberg has installed a former British political leader as the public point person for regulatory issues involving Meta. Nick Clegg will be the company's president of global affairs, the CEO announced, after joining Facebook in 2018 as vice president for global affairs and communications. Clegg's policy experience includes once being deputy prime minister in the UK, the Guardian reports. At Facebook, Clegg was involved in setting up the Oversight Board in 2020, an outside decision-making group that can't be overruled by the company. The announcement said Clegg; Zuckerberg; and Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer; are now on the same level in Meta's hierarchy, though Clegg will report to the other two.

But Clegg will be the one out front to deal with governments, per the Verge, which Zuckerberg and Sandberg acknowledged, saying the move will give them time for other efforts. "The next few years will be a crucial time for our company and our industry as new rules for the internet are written all over the world," Sandberg said, "and as we set out on our journey to help build the metaverse." Clegg posted that "products will continue to be a subject of intense societal interest and debate," per Engadget, and that he's looking forward to that. (More Nick Clegg stories.)