Joel Kaplan

Joel David Kaplan was born in 1969,{{citation needed|date=March 2025}} and raised in Weston, Massachusetts, the third child of his father, an attorney for municipal unions, and his mother, a college administrator (both reportedly liberal Democrats).{{Cite AV media |last=Benjamin |first=Wofford |date=10 March 2022 |title=The Infinite Reach of Joel Kaplan, Facebook's Man in Washington |work=Wired | format = audio presentation of article | url=https://www.wired.com/story/facebook-joel-kaplan-washington-political-influence/ | time = 10:39-12:02 | access-date=10 March 2025 }}{{Cite magazine |last=Benjamin |first=Wofford |date=10 March 2022 |title=The Infinite Reach of Joel Kaplan, Facebook's Man in Washington |magazine=Wired | url=https://www.wired.com/story/facebook-joel-kaplan-washington-political-influence/ |access-date=2 April 2022 | url-access = subscription}} He attended Harvard University, briefly dating his future Meta/Facebook colleague, Sheryl Sandberg in his first year, and became active as a Student Democrat (including championing desegregated student housing; see also following); he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Harvard, in 1991.{{citation needed|date=March 2025}} According to a friend of Kaplan's at Harvard, campus demonstrations there opposing the U.S. invasion of Kuwait during the Gulf War—which included wearing gas masks, and chanting Vietnam-era slogans—"left many students cold"; Benjamin Woffard, writing for Wired Magazine, associates those events with a shift in Kaplan's politics, noting that by the end of end of his senior year, he had omitted activities with the Democrats from his yearbook entry.

After college, he served as an Artillery Officer in the United States Marine Corps for four years. He then earned a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School in 1998.

Kaplan participated as a Democrat during his college years, including successful election at local party caucus as an alternative delegate,{{cite news |author=Knepper, John G. |date=February 5, 1990 |title=Seven Elected State Delegates: Students to Vote at Mass. Democratic Convention for Governor|url=http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1990/2/5/seven-elected-state-delegates-pseven-harvard |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140303234434/http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1990/2/5/seven-elected-state-delegates-pseven-harvard/ |archive-date=March 3, 2014 | quote = ...two Harvard students, Joel D. Kaplan '91 of Eliot House and Terri E. Gerstein '90 of Quincy House were elected as alternate delegates for Evelyn Murphy.}} and has been described as being an active conservative Democrat during the early-1990s.{{according to whom|date=March 2025}} After law school, he clerked for Judge J. Michael Luttig of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, and Justice Antonin Scalia of the Supreme Court. He registered as a Republican in the late-1990s.[https://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/25/washington/limelight-finds-new-white-house-deputy.html "Limelight Finds New White House Deputy"], New York Times, 25 April 2006

Kaplan worked as a policy advisor on George W. Bush's 2000 presidential campaign, during which he was a participant in the Brooks Brothers riot on November 22, 2000.{{Cite web |last=Rood |first=Justin |date=2006-04-19 |title=New WH Policy Chief Was "Brooks Brothers" Rioter |url=https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/img-src-images-joelkaplan-jpg-hspace-5-vspace-5-align-left-new-wh-policy-chief-was-brooks-brothers-rioter |access-date=2024-11-13 |website=TPM}}

File:President George W. Bush with Senior Officials in Oval Office.jpg in 2001.]]

From 2001 to 2003 he was special assistant to the president for policy within the White House Chief of Staff’s office. Then he served as deputy director of the Office of Management And Budget, serving under Joshua Bolten. While at the OMB, in 2006, Kaplan said the administration would cut the deficit by half by 2009.{{Cite news|title=US budget deficit to surge above $400bn|url=https://www.ft.com/content/598aeac6-83bf-11da-9017-0000779e2340|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221211221237/https://www.ft.com/content/598aeac6-83bf-11da-9017-0000779e2340|archive-date=2022-12-11|url-access=subscription|url-status=live|newspaper=Financial Times|date=13 January 2006|access-date=2020-06-02}}

In April 2006, he returned to the White House as the White House Deputy Chief of Staff for policy, taking over policy planning duties from Karl Rove as part of a staff shake-up by White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten. Blake Gottesman was the other Deputy Chief of Staff and focused on operations.{{cite news|last=Baker|first=Peter|title=White House Personnel Changes Complete|newspaper=The Washington Post |date=June 17, 2006|url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/16/AR2006061601664.html}} He was responsible for the development and implementation of the Administration’s policy agenda. While in the Bush administration, Kaplan was seen as very close to Bolten.{{Cite web|title=Bush shifts Rove out of key post on policy; press secretary resigns|url=https://www.denverpost.com/2006/04/19/bush-shifts-rove-out-of-key-post-on-policy-press-secretary-resigns/|last=Newsday|date=2006-04-19|website=The Denver Post|language=en-US|access-date=2020-06-02}}

Prior to joining Facebook, Kaplan was the executive vice president for public policy and external affairs for Energy Future Holdings (EFH), where he oversaw company-wide public affairs and led EFH’s efforts to "publicly demonstrate and communicate its role in the energy industry".{{cite web|title=Joel Kaplan, Vice President, Global Public Policy|url= https://www.cla.purdue.edu/intersection/documents/Joel%20Kaplan%20bio%202015.pdf|website=Purdue University|access-date=20 February 2018}}

In May 2011, Facebook hired Kaplan as its vice president of U.S. public policy, as part of a Facebook's effort to "strengthen" the company's ties to Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill.{{cite news|last1=Hudson|first1=John|title=Get to Know Facebook's Lobbyist Dream Team|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/05/meet-facebooks-lobbyist-dream-team/351155/|access-date=20 February 2018|work=The Atlantic|date=26 May 2011}}{{Cite web|title=Facebook Taps Joel Kaplan to Head Washington Office|url=https://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/05/26/facebook-taps-joel-kaplan-to-head-washington-office/|last=Lattman|first=Evelyn M. Rusli and Peter|date=2011|website=The New York Times|language=en|access-date=2020-06-02}} In October 2014, Kaplan succeeded Marne Levine as Facebook's vice president of global public policy.{{cite news|last1=Tsukayama|first1=Hayley|title=Facebook taps D.C. office head to manage global policy|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2014/10/06/facebook-taps-d-c-office-head-to-manage-global-policy|access-date=20 February 2018|newspaper=Washington Post|date=6 October 2014}}

Within the company, Kaplan advocated against restrictions on racially incendiary speech.{{Cite news|date=2020|title=Zuckerberg once wanted to sanction Trump. Then Facebook wrote rules that accommodated him.|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/06/28/facebook-zuckerberg-trump-hate/}} He played an important role in crafting an exception for newsworthy political discourse when deciding on whether content violated the community guidelines. During the 2016 election, Kaplan advocated against closing down Facebook groups which allegedly peddled fake news. Kaplan argued that getting rid of the groups would have disproportionately targeted conservatives. During and after the 2016 US presidential election, Kaplan argued against Facebook publicly disclosing the extent of Russian influence operations on the platform.{{Cite web |last1=Mac |first1=Ryan |last2=Silverman |first2=Craig |date=22 February 2021 |title="Mark Changed The Rules": How Facebook Went Easy On Alex Jones And Other Right-Wing Figures |url=https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanmac/mark-zuckerberg-joel-kaplan-facebook-alex-jones |access-date=2021-02-22 |website=BuzzFeed News |language=en}}

In 2017, after Facebook had implemented changes to its algorithm to expose users to more content by family and friends and less by publishers who were determined by Facebook to engage in misinformation, Kaplan questioned whether the algorithm disproportionately hurt conservative publishers and successfully advocated for Facebook to change the algorithm again.

He pushed against a proposed Facebook project that was intended to make Facebook users of different political views engage with each other in less hostile ways. Kaplan argued that this feature would lead conservatives to accuse Facebook of bias.{{Cite web|title=Warren calls out Facebook policy chief who worked for Bush in plan to clamp down on the 'revolving door'|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/29/warren-calls-out-facebook-policy-chief-former-bush-aide-joel-kaplan.html|last=Feiner|first=Lauren|date=2019-10-29|website=CNBC|language=en|access-date=2020-06-02}}{{Cite news|last=Seetharaman|first=Deepa|date=2018-12-23|title=Facebook's Lonely Conservative Takes on a Power Position|language=en-US|work=The Wall Street Journal|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebooks-lonely-conservative-takes-on-a-power-position-11545570000|access-date=2020-06-02|issn=0099-9660}} Kaplan also reportedly advocated on behalf of Breitbart News and The Daily Caller within Facebook. Kaplan has helped to place conservatives in key positions in the leadership of Facebook.

In 2018, he advocated strongly for the Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh.{{Cite web|title=A Facebook executive rallied support for Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination, a new book says|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/facebooks-joel-kaplan-rallied-support-for-kavanaugh-scotus-nomination-book-2019-11|last=Sonnemaker|first=Tyler|website=Business Insider|access-date=2020-06-02}} Kaplan sat behind Kavanaugh during his Senate confirmation hearings. Kaplan hosted a party for Kavanaugh following his nomination to the Supreme Court.{{Cite news |last=Murphy |first=Hannah |date=2025-03-16 |title=How Joel Kaplan became Mark Zuckerberg's most trusted political fixer |url=https://www.ft.com/content/7a68fd7b-cae3-48ea-83bc-777731013e05?emailId=6919e2e6-1418-48cb-b1fe-6039b388b8d9&segmentId=d7819019-a835-9021-a32e-6753ad240ae7 |access-date=2025-03-18 |work=Financial Times}}

During the first presidency of Donald Trump Kaplan was on friendly terms with the administration. At one point, the administration considered nominating him as head of the Office of Management and Budget.

In January 2025, Kaplan was promoted to the position of president of global affairs at Meta, succeeding Nick Clegg. His appointment has been described as part of Meta's efforts to improve its relationship with Donald Trump ahead of his second term in office.{{Cite web |last=Isaac |first=Mike |date=2024-01-02 |title=Meta Appoints Executive With Republican Ties to Lead Global Policy |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/02/technology/meta-joel-kaplan-nick-clegg.html |access-date=2024-01-02 |website=The New York Times}}

In the book Careless People published in March 2025, Sarah Wynn-Williams, a former Meta executive, wrote that Kaplan demanded she work through her maternity leave, barraged her with sexually charged comments on a regular basis, and grinded against her during a company party.{{cite book |last=Wynn-Williams |first=Sarah |date=2025-03-12 |title=Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism |publisher=MacMillan |isbn=978-1-250-39124-7 }} In response, Meta released a statement saying that an internal investigation had cleared Kaplan and that Wynn-Williams had made "misleading and unfounded allegations of harassment".{{Cite news |last=Daisley|first=Bruce |date=2025-03-12 |title=Careless People — the jaw-dropping account of Sarah Wynn-Williams' time at Facebook |url=https://www.ft.com/content/51d5ed0b-fff4-4c54-bd74-db570bae2fed |access-date=2025-03-18 |work=Financial Times}}

On April 8, 2006, Kaplan married Laura Cox Kaplan (formerly Laura Lyn Cox) in Washington, D.C.{{cite news|title=Cox, Kaplan exchange vows|url=http://www.brownwoodtx.com/article/20060702/NEWS/307029985|access-date=February 21, 2018|work=Brownwood (TX) Bulletin|publisher=GateHouse Media LLC|date=July 2, 2006}} The Kaplan and Kavanaugh families share a close relationship, as described by Laura: "[w]e share our families."

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