Joel Kaplan, Meta’s Global Policy Chief, to Leave After 15 Years

Joel Kaplan, a former adviser to George W. Bush known for his Republican ties, had helped Meta build its relationship with the Trump administration. Listen · 2:48 min Joel Kaplan, right, Meta’s chief global affairs officer, in Washington in 2025.

Credit... Michael A. McCoy for The New York Times By Eli Tan Reporting from San Francisco Oct.

20, 2026, 2:07 p.m. ET Joel Kaplan, Meta’s head of global policy and the top Washington adviser to Mark Zuckerberg, said on Tuesday that he was leaving the company after 15 years. A former senior adviser to George W.

Bush known for his Republican ties, Mr. Kaplan, 57, had led Meta’s Washington policy team for over a decade, most recently helping to build the company’s relationship with the Trump administration. He will stay on through the midterm elections and leave sometime next year, Meta said in a statement.

“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,” Mr. Zuckerberg said in the statement. “And throughout all of it, he’s been a strong advocate for our policies, and a friend to me.” The departure is a major shake up for Meta, which under Mr.

Kaplan’s leadership became more closely aligned with the Trump administration. Mr. Zuckerberg has become an ally of President Trump’s, appearing prominently at his inauguration and seated next to him at luncheons with other tech leaders.

Meta said Mr. Kaplan’s duties would fall to two of Mr. Zuckerberg’s recently hired lieutenants — Dina Powell McCormick, Meta’s president and vice chairman, and C.J.

Mahoney, Meta’s chief legal officer. Mr. Zuckerberg hired Ms.

Powell McCormick, a Washington power player, in January, to lead the company’s data center expansion, including its financing and public relations. Mr. Mahoney was hired that same month and oversaw a $17.1 billion settlement that Meta struck with states over child safety harms in August.

Meta has made other leadership changes. David Ginsberg, Meta’s longtime head of communications and public affairs, switched to a new A.I.-focused job at the company last month. Last year, Mr.

Zuckerberg hired a new chief A.I. officer, Alexandr Wang, to lead development of the technology. Mr. Kaplan’s departure was earlier reported by Axios.

Mr. Kaplan joined Meta, then a young social media company, to help strengthen the company’s ties to Republican leadership. He eventually became a top adviser to Mr.

Zuckerberg and guided the company through controversies like the 2018 Cambridge Analytica scandal, when people’s data from Facebook was used without their consent to build voter profiles. Mr. Kaplan became Meta’s head of global policy in 2025, replacing Nick Clegg, a former deputy prime minister of Britain.

Eli Tan covers the technology industry for The Times from San Francisco.