Who is Joel Kaplan, Meta's new President of Global Affairs and Trump's latest ally in Big Tech?
The ban lasted more than two years and extended to Instagram; Trump was not reinstated until February 7, 2023, at which point Meta announced there would be “new guardrails in place” to deter him from “repeat offenses”.
His ascent is a sign that Meta is trying to improve its standing with the President-elect after a decade of friction between Trump and Meta's founder, Mark Zuckerberg.
Whether Zuckerberg’s affinity for Kaplan’s maverick status had anything to do with the latter’s promotion is unclear, but it wouldn’t be wildly inappropriate to assume it might have helped in his broader advancement within the company since 2011.
He was most recently its vice president of global public policy and leader of its DC office, although he is perhaps better known for being a former White House aide to George W. Bush from 2001 to 2009.
