The new face of Facebook

What does Nick Clegg’s big promotion mean for Meta

Mark Zuckerberg never wanted to do Washington.

It’s easy to forget that it’s been less than four years since he was dragged and shouted at at his first Congressional hearing on the Cambridge Analytica scandal, after first insisting he wasn’t the right man for the job.

And maybe not him. In the years since Zuckerberg took on a more public role in navigating many of the company’s global policy problems, things have likely only gotten worse for the company formerly known as Facebook.

Now, apparently, Zuckerberg wants to come out. On Wednesday, he announced that Nick Clegg would be the company’s new president of Global Affairs, reporting directly to Zuckerberg and running all of the company’s policies around the world.

• “We need a senior leader at the level of myself (for our products) and Sheryl [Sandberg] (for our business) who can lead and represent us for all of our policy issues around the world, ”Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post.
• As far as title changes, this is a negligible one. Clegg has been mostly doing this job since 2018 when he joined the company.

This change is really about Zuckerberg and Sandberg. Zuckerberg made no secret of the fact that he hoped it would free him to focus on the company’s products.

• “As Nick takes on the new leadership role, it will allow me to focus more of my leadership strengths on the company as we create new products for the future,” he wrote.
• That is no small task. Zuckerberg is now in a position he hasn’t really been to, with Facebook user numbers falling, investors losing faith and the company’s ad model struggling under new privacy changes.
• Moving to a metaverse company – whatever its meaning may be – is not just a rebrand to escape from so many years of bad journalism; it is a raft of life. Navigating that transition is even more confusing when you’re stuck in litigation and apologizing for mistakes in your first 18 years.

It’s easy to see Clegg’s increase as Sandberg’s expense. And in some ways, of course it is.

• He was, after all, the face of Facebook in Washington in the rocky period between 2016 and 2018, navigating the Russian propaganda crisis and the collapse of the 2016 election.
• But since then, it has been clear inside and outside the company that Sandberg has given some of that territory to Clegg.
• “He’s made a clear effort to be less involved in policy over the past few years,” said Crystal Patterson, a former public policy manager for Facebook, who left the company after seven years last fall.

How to translate Facebook’s business model into its new future focused on AR and VR is up to him now, even Zuckerberg was working on developing the products themselves.

• In a comment on Zuckerberg’s post, Sandberg said a lot, writing, “The next few years will be an important time for our company and our industry as new rules for the internet are written around the world, and as we set out on our journey to help build the metaverse. “

Meanwhile, Clegg’s promotion will give him the gravitas he needs to “get higher -level meetings” with world leaders, said Katie Harbath, Facebook’s former director of public policy, who left the company last spring after 10 years.

• Further, Harbath said, the change was “significant because of Mark and Sheryl’s lack of interest in the policy.”
• Patterson, for one, called Clegg “the best thing they have in leadership.”

In practice, Clegg’s promotion may not be the magical escape chute that Zuckerberg and Sandberg wanted. At least, not in big moments. If there’s one thing that’s clear, it’s that when it comes to Facebook, lawmakers are rarely interested in talking to clean-up crews. More often, they want to talk to people who really make a mess.

– Issie Lapowsky

A version of this story appeared on Protocol.com. Read it here.

On the calendar

So you decided to go multicloud. What now?

It has never been easier to use multiple cloud providers for modern tech infrastructure needs, but should you use multiple cloud providers? A panel of experts will explain the arguments for and against multicloud computing and how businesses should think about their options as the market evolves. Join us at 10 am PT March 2nd. RSVP here.

A MESSAGE FROM ESRI

Due to the global nature of the business, tracking your company’s operations is more confusing than ever. Managing supply chains and an international, dispersed workforce is difficult. Maintaining visibility into all aspects of your operations is more difficult. Due to changing business standards, location services are no longer a “nice to have” but a “must have” – and the leader in the geospatial intelligence revolution is Esri.

Learn more

People are talking

The US is losing the 5G race, says Eric Schmidt, and this is a serious problem:

• “The pathetic US performance in the 5G race is a sign of America’s greater failure to keep up with China on strategically important technologies. China also leads America in high-tech manufacturing, green energy and multiple applications. of artificial intelligence. “

Countries trying to take home chip making have cut their jobs, former Arm CEO Simon Segars said:

• “You have to spend a lot of money and you will have to spend it for a long time. Whether governments have the guts for that in the long run remains to be seen. “

Esther Lee of The Knot thinks crypto could change the way people pay for weddings:

• “I already know some jewelry in the game that accepts cryptocurrency for payments.”

Jack Altman of Lattice said employees rely more on their management tools:

• “People still need community and connection … That will put more pressure on software systems to stand up for the water cooler.”

Makes moves

Spotify bought Chartable and Podsights, two podcast marketing and ad attribution companies, for an unspecified amount. This is Spotify’s first acquisition this year.

Some crypto firms have formed a coalition called TRUST, with the goal of securely sending customer data.

YouTube is looking for a Web3 director with experience in crypto -focused product management and design.

Kyanna Sabanoglu is Meta’s new lead counsel of IP litigation. He was most recently an associate at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP.

Kendall Collins left his position as CMO in Okta. John Zissimos, the company’s chief digital officer, will fill the role.

Andrew Djalali is the new SVP of Argyle’s Revenue. Djalali recently worked at Box as global director of Commercial Sales.

Harold Byun joined AppOmni as chief product officer. Byun has leadership roles at companies including ServiceNow and Skyhigh Networks.

In other news

Google will stop cross-app tracking on Android phones as well now. The privacy change could create another challenge for platforms like Facebook, which accuses Apple’s cross-app tracking rule of hurting its ads business.

Workers in Belgium can now demand a four -day work week. The Belgian government also requires employers to take more flexible working hours and let workers finally disconnect after working hours.

Are you ready for version 100? Chrome and Firefox releases are both about to reach the triple digits, and some developers are worried it will break their websites. But there is still time.

Startups are placing increasing limits on workers moving to cheaper cities. Instead of reducing the salary for employees who move to a cheaper location, some startup execs said the move would affect their ability to get increases on the line.

Uber customers will now see their own ratings. The company allows customers to view a breakdown of their average driver ratings in the app’s privacy menu.

Shopify beat analysts ’estimates for the fourth quarter, but shares still fell. The company reported a slower outlook on growth, but it is expected to increase again by the end of the year.

Amazon workers on Staten Island will get a union vote next month. The Amazon Labor Union has been pushing for workers to unionize in New York City since October.

A space joyride

Virgin Galactic has opened its doors to anyone willing to drop half a million dollars to get into space. To get a feel for what a ticket will get you, Virgin posted a video explaining what to expect during the 90-minute drive.

The video shows what is going on inside and outside the spacecraft as it climbs a few miles above the Earth. Passengers are floating and looking at our planet from 17 different windows, and, at least according to the video, the take-off and landing aren’t too bad. However, for half a million dollars, we think 90 minutes is pretty short. Let us know when we can stay there for a solid week.

A MESSAGE FROM ESRI

Due to the global nature of the business, tracking your company’s operations is more confusing than ever. Managing supply chains and an international, dispersed workforce is difficult. Maintaining visibility into all aspects of your operations is more difficult. Due to changing business standards, location services are no longer a “nice to have” but a “must have” – and the leader in the geospatial intelligence revolution is Esri.

Learn more