Facebook is making some changes to its upper-management, likely due to the number privacy concerns that have risen in the past few months. Facebook is moving its current head of policy, Erin Egan back to her former role as Chief Privacy Officer. Facebook is moving the vice president of mobile global access policy, Kevin Martin to the head of policy for the US, role. Martin is a former FCC chairman before becoming a vice president at the social network. He was at the FCC from 2001 to 2009 (under the Bush Administration), and was chairman from 2005 to 2009.
Egan had been chief privacy officer at Facebook for quite some time, and when Martin was hired, she also took the role as head of policy in the US. Facebook stated that “for the last couple years, Erin wore both hats at the company.” Facebook also noted that Martin will be the interim head of US Public Policy, and Egan will be focusing on her “expanded duties as chief privacy officer.” The reasoning behind the change is likely due to the fact that both roles have drastically expanded over the past few years – and even more so in the past few months in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
It’s notable that Facebook has named Martin interim head of policy at the company, which means the company may be looking for someone else to fill that role permanently. Though, it is also possible that Martin will fill that role permanently down the road. It’s obvious that both roles that Martin and Egan now have, are going to be changing a lot in the coming weeks and months, as changes after this data breach come down. Whether that’s from Facebook or from the government, seeing as there is a good chance that there could be some regulation coming to Facebook after the data breach that actually occurred during the 2016 US Presidential Election. But having Martin in that position is a good choice for Facebook, seeing as he was in the FCC for eight years, and also worked on the Bush-Cheney Campaign in 2000 which helped make George Bush the 43rd President of the United States.