Meta's former policy chief Nick Clegg is threading the needle carefully as he promotes his upcoming book "How to Save the Internet." The former UK Liberal Democrat leader delivers pointed criticism of Silicon Valley's "cloyingly conformist" culture while defending his time at the social media giant, signaling a strategic repositioning ahead of his book launch.
Meta's former policy chief Nick Clegg just delivered a masterclass in strategic criticism, taking aim at Silicon Valley's culture while carefully protecting his bridges to his former employer. In a revealing Guardian interview promoting his upcoming book "How to Save the Internet," the former UK Liberal Democrat leader painted the tech capital as a "cloyingly conformist" ecosystem where "everyone wears the same clothes, drives the same cars, listens to the same podcasts, follows the same fads."
The timing couldn't be more calculated. Clegg stepped down from Meta in January after serving as the company's top policy executive through some of its most turbulent years. Now, as he prepares to launch his book, he's positioning himself as the thoughtful insider who can critique the industry without burning it down entirely.
"I really do believe that, despite its imperfections, social media has allowed billions of people to communicate with each other in a way that has never happened before," Clegg told the Guardian, adding a crucial caveat: he wouldn't have worked for Meta "if I felt Mark Zuckerberg or Sheryl Sandberg were the monsters other people say they are."
This careful balancing act sets Clegg apart from other Meta employee memoirs that have taken a more scorched-earth approach. Unlike tell-all exposés that dominate tech book shelves, "How to Save the Internet" appears designed to establish Clegg as a reasonable voice who can speak credibly about tech policy without alienating potential future employers or collaborators.
