‘That weighed on me very heavily and still does’



The former Meta executive who recommended banning President Donald Trump from Facebook says the decision still keeps him awake at night.

Nick Clegg, the former 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” moment that continues to haunt him.

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“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 former 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 risks of letting him post were “simply too great.”

The ban, originally set to last until the presidential transition, was ultimately extended 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 decision to suspend President Trump from Facebook in 2021 “still weighs on me.” Getty Images

Zuckerberg has since defended the reversal as a free-speech move with “new guardrails,” while acknowledging the original ban was crisis management under extraordinary circumstances.

In his interview with the Guardian last week, Clegg defended the move as necessary under Meta’s 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 leadership, remains one of the most explosive decisions in Silicon Valley’s history — spotlighting the power of unelected tech executives over global politics.

Clegg, who joined Facebook in 2018 after losing his seat in the House of Commons, cashed out nearly $19 million in stock during his tenure and was rumored to have earned close to $100 million in pay and options.

He insists those estimates are wrong but conceded to the Guardian, “I was paid extremely well. I feel extremely fortunate.”

Social media firms suspended Trump following the events of the Capitol riots on Jan. 6, 2021. James Keivom

The ex-politician has since traded California poolside life for London, where his lawyer wife Miriam González Durántez is eyeing a political career of her own either in the UK or her native Spain.

He said the move was partly driven by Silicon Valley’s “cloying conformity” — a world where billionaires preach disruption but dress, drive, and even think alike.

Clegg also blasted the macho culture of tech’s biggest names. He ridiculed his former boss Mark Zuckerberg’s comments about wanting more “masculine energy” in corporate 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 done more good than harm, pointing to billions in developing countries who gained a new voice.

The ban, later lifted under new leadership, remains one of the most explosive decisions in Silicon Valley’s history. AFP via Getty Images

In his new book, “How to Save the Internet,” Clegg warns that artificial intelligence could hand an even greater concentration of wealth and influence to a handful of companies — and eventually provoke “pitchfork fury.”

For all the criticism he faced at Meta, Clegg insisted he wouldn’t have joined if he thought Zuckerberg and his No. 2 at the time, COO Sheryl Sandberg were “monsters.” But he acknowledges the stakes are higher 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 comment from Meta and the White House.


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