Meta’s Republican policy chief announced his departure just ahead of a projected blue wave in Washington that threatens to rain down scrutiny on big tech companies. Joel Kaplan, who was elevated in the early days of Trump’s second term, will leave sometime early next year.
When Semafor scooped Kaplan’s ascension in early 2025, we wrote that “Meta’s political operation is now well placed for a Republican-dominated Washington.” Kaplan had replaced the neoliberal UK politico Nick Clegg just as the political pendulum was swinging and companies were rushing to add MAGA credentials to their boardrooms and executive ranks.
Those moves — funding American priorities, hiring MAGA lobbyists, policing their airwaves, and committing to do free work for the government — may age badly as Democrats appear likely to take at least one chamber of Congress next month and take up the hearing gavel.