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Meta’s Joel Kaplan – Mark Zuckerberg’s right-hand man in Washington, DC – will step down next year as the company’s chief global affairs officer, the company confirmed Tuesday.
Kaplan, a Republican who served as deputy chief of staff for former President George W. Bush, will remain at the helm of Meta’s policy team through the midterms and leave at some point in 2027, a company spokesperson said.
Kaplan spent more than 15 years at Meta and took over as its global policy chief following the departure of left-leaning Nick Clegg in January 2025.
“I’ll be at the company for a few months to help with the transition, and then look forward to catching my breath,” Kaplan wrote on X, adding that he planned to spend more time with his family and “figure out what I want to do next.”
The exec was widely seen as the most vocal champion for conservatives at Meta – and was credited internally with ensuring a consistent approach on Zuckerberg’s shift away from fact-checking and censorship on Facebook and Instagram.
He also played a key role in fostering Meta’s closer ties with President Trump, who once reviled the company.
In a statement to Axios, Zuckerberg said Kaplan “has worked on virtually every tough issue Meta has faced for more than 15 years.
“When he arrived, there was no playbook for ensuring our products would be available to the billions of people around the world who now rely on them. And throughout all of it, he’s been a strong advocate for our policies, and a friend to me,” Zuckerberg added.
Meta did not say who will replace Kaplan in the role, though several executives are poised to take on his responsibilities.
They include Dina Powell McCormick, a president and vice chairman at Meta who will add external affairs to her portfolio as part of the transition, a spokesperson confirmed.
Powell served in the Trump administration during the president’s first term in office and previously worked at Goldman Sachs.
She is spearheading Meta’s campaign to build out data centers and other infrastructure needed to support the artificial intelligence boom.
Other key individuals include CJ Mahoney, who became Meta’s chief legal officer in January and played an important role in brokering the company’s controversial $18 billion settlement with a coalition of state attorneys general who accused the company of fueling a teen mental health crisis.