The Scoop: What Meta’s new policy hire may mean for its social networks

Meta has appointed Joel Kaplan as the head of its global policy team.

Kaplan is a former deputy chief of staff to former President George W. Bush and a notable Republican. He replaces Nick Clegg, the ex-UK deputy prime minister and leader of the Liberal Democrats, who is departing the company.

Kaplan was previously the company’s vice president of global policy. Kevin Martin, the former FCC chairman, will take over his former role.

The staffing change comes as tech companies seek to improve relationships with President-elect Donald Trump’s administration ahead of his return to the White House later this month.

Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg’s relationship with Trump and many Republicans hasn’t been great over the past four years.

Zuckerberg has been a public critic of Trump over the years and went so far as to ban him from Facebook following the storming of the U.S. Capitol in 2021.

In a book released ahead of this election, Trump accused Zuckerberg of “plotting” against him and threatened him with “life in prison” if he did “anything illegal” during the election, according to CNN.

Washington, D.C. hasn’t been overly friendly to big tech under the Biden administration, with several major antitrust lawsuits filed in recent years against the likes of Meta, Apple, Amazon and Google.

Trump’s administration will likely have a say on some of those big-tech issues, including the use of AI. And being able to have a close ally to Republicans could be important for Meta and other tech companies.

Kaplan recently met with Trump and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance at the New York Stock Exchange.

Why it matters: Kaplan has deep roots with the Republican party, with connections to the likes of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and Sen. Ted Cruz. 

“​​Both Joel and Kevin have been friends of mine for 25 years, and I am hopeful that their promotion signals a renewed commitment to free speech online,” Cruz wrote on X following the announcement. “For the past decade, Big Tech has been far too eager to censor and silence, I hope that Meta will now join X in fighting to protect free speech for everyone.”

Social networks have long been politicized, with many Republicans claiming, as Cruz did, that social networks silenced the voices of conservatives. X began to swing that pendulum in the other direction as it unbanned a number of controversial conservative figures (including Trump), banned some journalists and loosened a number of restrictions that were seen as penalizing conservatives, including ban requirements.

Will Meta follow suit quite as vocally as the Elon Musk-led X has? It seems unlikely, given the giant’s consistent stance as a big tent that welcomes everyone. But don’t be surprised if some restrictions are loosened, algorithms change and policies begin to adopt a more right-leaning slant.

There’s no need to alter strategy yet, but this could cause brand safety issues, as it did in the case of X. 

With the future of TikTok still in doubt, the lack of a clear successor to X and new political considerations, it’s going to be a wild year for social media. 

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Casey Weldon is a reporter for PR Daily. Follow him on LinkedIn.