Meta Inc. has named Joel Kaplan, Facebook’s most prominent Republican executive, as its new president of global public policy, signaling founder Mark Zuckerberg’s further rejection of censorship, Semaphore said Thursday. reported.
Kaplan, who currently serves as the department’s vice president, will replace Nick Clegg, the current head of global policy. According to To the outlet. Mr. Kaplan, who previously served as White House chief of staff under President George W. Bush, joined Facebook in 2011 and solidified his position as one of the company’s most conservative voices.
In 2015, when then-candidate Donald Trump posted a video calling for a ban on Muslims entering the United States, Facebook held a company-wide town hall in which employees slammed the video as hate speech and Zucker We asked Mr. Berg to remove it. Mr. Zuckerberg ultimately decided against the deletion, in part because Mr. Kaplan dissuaded him from doing so. According to To the Washington Post (WaPo).
The uproar, along with widespread backlash from Facebook employees who supported censoring Trump’s videos, led the company to adopt new policies to limit what it considers misinformation. Kaplan was one of the few voices to question whether the policy would unfairly censor right-leaning publications, WaPo reported. (Related article: “Begging and pleading”: Why big tech companies are aligning with Trump)
Employees revolted again in 2018 after Kaplan was photographed sitting behind then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh during his Senate confirmation hearing. Employees interpreted his seating choices as intentional and tacit support for Mr. Kavanaugh, an anonymous employee. allegedly said New York Times.
Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer at the time, wrote a scathing internal memo criticizing Kaplan’s apparent support for Kavanaugh. According to To the Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
“As a woman, and someone who cares very much about how women are treated, the Kavanaugh issue is very upsetting to me.” According to WSJ, Joel and I are very concerned about attending given his role in the company. “I talked about why I thought it was a mistake,” she wrote.
Mr. Kaplan’s predecessor, Mr. Clegg, has had a consistent pattern of expressing his center-left views. According to Semaphore, Clegg, who was Britain’s deputy prime minister under David Cameron, criticized Elon Musk, calling him a “puppet master.”
Mr Clegg is a strong advocate of censorship on Facebook. tell politico You must manage your content “out of necessity.”
LISBON, PORTUGAL – NOVEMBER 2: Nick, Vice President of Global Affairs and Communications at Metaplatform, at the Altice Arena on Day 2 of the 2021 Web Summit on November 2, 2021 in Lisbon, Portugal. Mr. Clegg appears on screen and gives a speech. After being forced to go virtual in 2020 due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, the technology event will go in-person this year with some restrictions and attendees limited to 40,000 people. I’m back. Over 2,000 startups and over 1,000 companies will participate. Investors and over 700 speakers will be in attendance. Horacio Villalobos Corbis/Getty Images
Mr. Kaplan’s promotion to head of global policy comes as Mr. Zuckerberg gradually moves away from Facebook’s historically pro-censorship stance and in the wake of President-elect Donald Trump’s victory in November’s election. It is the latest example of what appears to be growing support for right-wing circles. (Related: Mark Zuckerberg now reportedly identifies as a libertarian)
Zuckerberg acknowledged in August that his platform had suppressed certain coronavirus-related content at the behest of the Biden administration. He also expressed regret that Facebook had capitulated after the White House “repeatedly pressured” the company to censor content containing jokes and humor.
“We believe the government’s pressure was misplaced, and we regret that we did not speak up more,” he said in a letter to the House Judiciary Committee.
In the same letter, he said after the FBI sent a letter to the New York Post claiming that the article about Hunter Biden’s laptop could be related to “a possible Russian disinformation operation.” , also admitted that the company covered up the New York Post article. “It has since become clear that this report was not Russian disinformation, but in hindsight I should not have downgraded this story,” Zuckerberg acknowledged.
Mark Zuckerberg admitted just three things:
1. The Biden-Harris administration “pressured” Facebook to censor Americans.
2. Facebook censored Americans.
3. Facebook suppressed article about Hunter Biden’s laptop.
A huge victory for free speech. pic.twitter.com/ALLbZd9l6K
— House Judiciary Republican 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@JudiciaryGOP) August 26, 2024
According to multiple reports, Zuckerberg donated $1 million to President Trump’s inaugural fund. He expressed his initial support for President Trump on social media after his election. met with the next president in November.
