Portrait of Nick Clegg
Politician · person
Wikipedia (opens in new tab)

Nick Clegg on Donald Trump

Critic of Tech-Trump Alliance (strong)

TL;DR

Nick Clegg expressed discomfort with Silicon Valley's quick embrace of Donald Trump following his election victory in 2016.

Key Points

  • He was troubled by the immediate alignment between the tech industry and the Trump administration after the 2016 election.

  • Clegg found the decision to suspend Donald Trump from Facebook and Instagram after the Capitol Hill riots weighed heavily on him.

  • He ultimately defended the Trump ban based on company rules, while being troubled by an unelected private company making such a decision about a president.

Summary

Nick Clegg, the former deputy prime minister and one-time Meta executive, expressed significant discomfort regarding the rapid pivot by the entire technology sector to align with the administration of Donald Trump after his 2016 election victory. He revealed that he had expected Trump to win, but was surprised by the 'alacrity' with which Silicon Valley sought to become 'joined at the hip' with the new administration, which he indicated served as a factor in his subsequent departure from Meta. This reaction stemmed from his long-held argument for technology companies to remain separate from the political sphere.

Clegg also stated that the decision to suspend Trump from Facebook and Instagram following the Capitol Hill riots in January 2021 weighed on him 'very heavily and still does,' though he ultimately defended the company's enforcement of its content rules against the outgoing president. His views suggest a fundamental tension between his liberal commitments to free expression and the necessity of moderation on a private platform concerning a powerful political figure.

Key Quotes

“I think there's very little evidence to suggest that is the case because, guess what? Thankfully, we're much more complicated creatures than that,” Clegg tells Emily Maitlis. “How we think, how we feel, how we vote, depends on a whole range of issues.”

Frequently Asked Questions

Nick Clegg was unsettled by the speed at which major technology companies shifted to align closely with Donald Trump's administration post-2016. He saw this as tech seeking to be 'joined at the hip' with the new political power, which contradicted his view that the platforms should remain largely separate from politics.

Clegg stated that the decision to suspend Donald Trump following the Capitol Hill riots weighed on him heavily. While he ultimately defended the action on the grounds that company content rules had been violated, he was troubled by the precedent of an unelected private firm making such a significant decision regarding the outgoing president.

There is no indication that Nick Clegg’s core stance has evolved. His criticism centers on the perceived herd behavior of Silicon Valley aligning with Trump and the inherent issues with a private platform banning a major political figure, positions he held around the time of his departure from Meta.