Meta's 15-year policy chief leaves in 2027 as the power bill for AI comes due
Joel Kaplan, who built Meta's Washington operation and ran its politics for 15 years, exits in 2027 as the company's hardest fights move from content moderation to gas plants, rate cases and court fines. Meta reports third-quarter results tonight with a $130–145 billion capital program underway.
Vincent Jiang · 3 min read
The fixer hands over the keys
Joel Kaplan, Meta's+1.94% — Meta, up 1.94 percent today chief global affairs officer and Mark Zuckerberg's Washington adviser for more than 15 years, will leave the company in 2027, Axios reported on October 20 and Meta confirmed 123.
A former Marine artillery officer who served as deputy White House chief of staff to George W. Bush, Kaplan joined Facebook in 2011, built its US policy team from scratch, ran the Cambridge Analytica response and repaired Zuckerberg's relationship with Donald Trump 13. He stays through the November 3 midterms, then hands over and, he says, spends time with his family 123.
The desk is now about substations
The job has changed shape. Dina Powell McCormick−2.69% — McCormick, down 2.69 percent today, Meta's president and vice chairman, adds external affairs while co-heading the Meta Compute infrastructure initiative; chief legal officer C.J. Mahoney, who led the 52-attorney-general teen-safety settlement, adds policy 1.
Their docket is concrete. Entergy+0.90% — Entergy, up 0.90 percent today wants Louisiana regulators to approve seven gas plants, three battery systems and new transmission for Meta's $50 billion Richland Parish campus, which its chief executive, Phillip May, testified will draw 4,500 megawatts, roughly four times what the city of New Orleans uses 5.
The permission bill arrives on four fronts
The consumer groups in that case never got Meta's own jobs and demand records, which Entergy says it does not hold 6, and which Louisiana had already let Meta seal; a post on X on October 20 puts Entergy's ask above $14 billion and says two groups have now asked a Baton Rouge court to force disclosure, a filing this report could not locate 7.
Abroad, Ofcom is investigating Instagram's Instants feature on penalties up to £18 million or 10 percent of worldwide revenue 8; Brazil's electoral court doubled its daily fine to 1 million reais before Meta said on October 20 it had complied 910; and a Santa Fe judge is weighing New Mexico's $35 billion to $40 billion ask, covered here on October 18, against Meta's counter of $154 million to $1.54 billion 1112.
Permission is eating the cash
Meta's quarterly capital spending passed its free cash flow this year
- Capital spending
- Free cash flow
Data
| Capital spending | Free cash flow | |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 '23 | $6.5B | $13.9B |
| Q4 '23 | $7.6B | $11.8B |
| Q1 '24 | $6.4B | $12.8B |
| Q2 '24 | $8.2B | $11.2B |
| Q3 '24 | $8.3B | $16.5B |
| Q4 '24 | $14.4B | $13.6B |
| Q1 '25 | $12.9B | $11.1B |
| Q2 '25 | $16.5B | $9B |
| Q3 '25 | $18.8B | $11.2B |
| Q4 '25 | $21.4B | $14.8B |
| Q1 '26 | $19B | $13.2B |
| Q2 '26 | $30.1B | $1.7B |
Meta spent $30.1 billion of capital in the second quarter against $1.7 billion of free cash flow, on $60.8 billion of revenue, and has guided $130 billion to $145 billion of 2026 capital spending including finance leases 134. Third-quarter results arrive after tonight's close 4. The shop that clears the path for that spending changes hands while the spending peaks.
The other side gets a hearing
Entergy says the 20-year contract obliges Meta to pay even if it walks, and Governor Jeff Landry's executive order requires data centers to fund their own power 5. Meta says it risk-assessed Instants and briefed Ofcom before launch, and calls the New Mexico request "grossly disproportional" 811. Nothing in the record ties Kaplan's exit to any of this; the transition was planned 1.
What to watch
Four dates decide the quarter: tonight's capital-spending guide 4, the New Mexico ruling this month 12, the Louisiana commission's vote on December 16 6, and Brazil's October 25 runoff 9. Kaplan's signature leaves the building in 2027; the permission slips do not 41269.
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