That weighed on me very heavily and still does | Latest Tech News
The former Meta govt who really helpful banning President Donald Trump from Facebook says the choice still retains him awake at night time.
Nick Clegg, the previous British deputy prime minister who spent seven years as Meta’s top political fixer, said suspending Trump in January 2021 for posts stoking the Capitol riot was the “very, very uncomfortable” second that continues to hang-out him.
“I found that really weighed on me very heavily and still does,” Clegg, 58, told the Guardian.
“On the one hand, I felt very clearly that the content rules of the company had been violated and, on the other hand … it’s an unelected private company making a decision that affects the public realm. And he was the outgoing president of the world’s most powerful democracy.”
Nick Clegg, the previous British deputy prime minister, spent seven years as Meta’s president of global affairs. AFP via Getty Images
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company suspended Trump from Facebook and Instagram after Jan. 6, 2021, warning the dangers of letting him post have been “simply too great.”
The ban, initially set to last until the presidential transition, was finally prolonged to two years.
In 2023, Meta reinstated Trump’s accounts, with Clegg saying voters “should be able to hear what their politicians are saying — the good, the bad and the ugly.”
Clegg said the choice to droop President Trump from Facebook in 2021 “still weighs on me.” Getty Images
Zuckerberg has since defended the reversal as a free-speech transfer with “new guardrails,” while acknowledging the unique ban was disaster management under extraordinary circumstances.
In his interview with the Guardian last week, Clegg defended the transfer as mandatory under Meta’s insurance policies but admitted the precedent set still troubles him.
“In the end, in a democracy you want democratically accountable figures to thrash it out,” he said.
The ban, later lifted under new management, stays one of the most explosive selections in Silicon Valley’s historical past — spotlighting the facility of unelected tech executives over global politics.
Clegg, who joined Facebook in 2018 after shedding his seat in the House of Commons, cashed out almost $19 million in stock during his tenure and was rumored to have earned close to $100 million in pay and choices.
He insists those estimates are fallacious but conceded to the Guardian, “I was paid extremely well. I feel extremely fortunate.”
Social media companies suspended Trump following the occasions of the Capitol riots on Jan. 6, 2021. James Keivom
The ex-politician has since traded California poolside life for London, where his lawyer spouse Miriam González Durántez is eyeing a political profession of her own either in the UK or her native Spain.
He said the transfer was partly pushed by Silicon Valley’s “cloying conformity” — a world where billionaires preach disruption but gown, drive, and even assume alike.
Clegg also blasted the macho tradition of tech’s largest names. He ridiculed his former boss Mark Zuckerberg’s feedback about wanting more “masculine energy” in company life, calling it “not really me.”
“When I think about all the problems of society, I don’t think the one thing we need is more masculinity,” he told the Guardian.
He went on to criticize the “deeply unattractive combination of machismo and self-pity” among figures like Elon Musk and other self-styled tech bros.
Despite his frustrations, Clegg still argues that social media has completed more good than hurt, pointing to billions in developing international locations who gained a new voice.
The ban, later lifted under new management, stays one of the most explosive selections in Silicon Valley’s historical past. AFP via Getty Images
In his new ebook, “How to Save the Internet,” Clegg warns that artificial intelligence might hand an even higher focus of wealth and affect to a handful of firms — and ultimately provoke “pitchfork fury.”
For all the criticism he confronted at Meta, Clegg insisted he wouldn’t have joined if he thought Zuckerberg and his No. 2 at the time, COO Sheryl Sandberg have been “monsters.” But he acknowledges the stakes are greater than ever.
“If big tech push their luck, they risk being nationalized,” he warned.
“When power gets concentrated in so few hands for such extensive social impact — way bigger than social media … I don’t think these companies will continue to have social permission to operate.”
The Post has sought remark from Meta and the White House.
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