Facebook hires Nick Clegg, former UK deputy prime minister, as head of global affairs.
Facebook has hired Sir Nick Clegg as its head of global policy and communications.
The 52 year-old former UK deputy prime minister will work on the efforts of the social network of coping with the constant political pressure over issues including fake news, data protection and the threat of government regulation.
He was elected over former chancellor George Osborne, now editor of the Evening Stan3dard, and the ex-Labour foreign secretary David Miliband, who had circulated as potential candidates for the role.
He will move to Silicon Valley in January with his wife, the international trade lawyer Miriam González Durántez, and their three sons, to succeed Elliot Schrage, who announced last June that he was to leave his role at Facebook after a decade of labors, although he would remain as an adviser.
According to information from The Guardian, Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook founder succeeded in getting Clegg on board after guaranteeing him a leading role in shaping the company’s strategy.
Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer, was also involved in Clegg’s recruitment.
The decision to appoint Clegg, a former European commission trade negotiator and member of the European parliament, is indicative of Facebook’s desire to have a better relationship with Brussels, where the social media giant is facing calls for increased regulation.
Last year the European commission fined Facebook £94m for providing “misleading” information about its $19bn takeover of WhatsApp in 2014.
