Joel Kaplan, Meta’s Chief Global Affairs Officer and top policy architect, has announced he will step down after a 15-year career at the social media giant.
Kaplan, a veteran Washington strategist who served as White House deputy chief of staff for policy under President George W. Bush, originally joined the company in 2011 to build its U.S. policy operation from the ground up. In January of last year, he succeeded former UK Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg as head of global policy—a strategic leadership shift widely viewed as an effort to align Meta’s advocacy with the incoming Trump administration.
In a public announcement on LinkedIn, Kaplan reflected on his tenure and expressed gratitude to company leadership.
“I’ve decided the time is right for me to move on from my role as chief global affairs officer,” Kaplan wrote. “It’s been an extraordinary journey and opportunity, and I’m very proud of the team we built and work we did. I will always be grateful to Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg for bringing me in all those years ago and supporting me and my work all along the way.”
Kaplan added that he will remain at Meta over the coming months to support the transition before stepping away to spend time with family and plan his next steps.
Meta has not yet named Kaplan’s successor. The executive departure follows a recent restructuring within Meta's communications arm, where longtime executive Tucker Bounds was elevated to Vice President of Global Communications and Public Affairs, taking over for David Ginsberg. Bounds now oversees public affairs as Meta navigates mounting global regulatory scrutiny around artificial intelligence and platform safety.
