7

The Infinite Reach of Joel Kaplan, Facebook’s Man in Washington

 2 years ago
source link: https://www.wired.com/story/facebook-joel-kaplan-washington-political-influence/
Go to the source link to view the article. You can view the picture content, updated content and better typesetting reading experience. If the link is broken, please click the button below to view the snapshot at that time.

The Infinite Reach of Joel Kaplan, Facebook’s Man in Washington

How one man came to rule political speech on Facebook, command one of the largest lobbies in DC, and guide Zuck through disaster—and straight into it.
Illustration of Joel Kaplan whispering in the ears of Mark Zuckerberg Donald Trump and Nancy Pelosi
Illustration: Jules Julien

Even by the standards of the Trump White House, the crisis that unfolded on the morning of May 29, 2020, was a memorable one. That Friday, a handful of staffers found themselves crammed into a West Wing office around a phone, some listening in guarded disbelief. Mark Zuckerberg was on the line, asking for a word with the president.

Minneapolis was in its fourth day of mass protests, which had not relented since George Floyd was killed under the knee of police officer Derek Chauvin. Early Friday morning, around 1 am Eastern, President Donald Trump had published a 102-word philippic to his Facebook and Twitter pages. He pledged the support of the US military and appended a hellish augury: “When the looting starts, the shooting starts.”


About Joyk


Aggregate valuable and interesting links.
Joyk means Joy of geeK