Jan 2 (Reuters) - Tech giant Meta Platforms ( META ) has appointed prominent Republican

Joel Kaplan as its chief global affairs officer, replacing Nick Clegg, the latter said in a post

on social media platform Threads on Thursday.

In the run-up to President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration, Kaplan will replace Clegg, a

former British deputy prime minister and a prior leader of the country's Liberal Democrats.

Clegg joined Meta in 2018 to run its global policy organization and has led on issues like

Facebook's content policy and elections, and spearheaded the establishment of the company's

independent content oversight board.

Kaplan did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment. Semafor earlier reported

on Kaplan's appointment.

Businesses across the board have been rushing to ensure favorable relations with Trump, in

the aftermath of his November election win.

Meta has donated $1 million to Trump's inaugural fund, a company spokesperson told Reuters

in December, months after CEO Mark Zuckerberg had declined to endorse either Donald Trump or Joe

Biden for last year's election, in a media interview that took place before Biden stepped down

as the Democratic nominee and was replaced by Kamala Harris.

However, Trump and Meta have had strained relations in the aftermath of the 2020

presidential election.

The president-elect accused Meta of suppressing content that would have hurt Biden in the

2020 election and also criticized Zuckerberg's donations to bolster election infrastructure.