Facebook owner Meta Platforms has named a former senior U.S. Justice Department official from Donald Trump’s first presidential administration to manage its worldwide litigation strategy.
Ethan Davis, who was most recently a partner at law firm King & Spalding based in San Francisco, will serve as head of global litigation strategy for Meta, according to Meta and the firm. Davis had been at 1,300-lawyer King & Spalding since 2020.
Meta and the law firm had no immediate further comment. Davis did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Davis served in the Justice Department from 2017 to 2020, including as acting head of the civil division. He left for a year to serve as a law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch in 2018.
Meta separately elevated prominent Republican Joel Kaplan last week to be its chief global affairs officer, succeeding Nick Clegg, a former British deputy prime minister and leader of the country’s center-left Liberal Democrats.
In December, Meta named Mike Haven as global head of legal operations. Haven previously held a top legal post at chipmaker Intel.
The company made headlines on Tuesday over a decision announced by its chief executive Mark Zuckerberg to scrap its U.S. fact-checking program and reduce curbs on discussions around contentious topics such as immigration and gender identity.
On the litigation front, Meta faces a trial in April in federal court in Washington, D.C., where U.S. antitrust enforcers are seeking to unwind the company’s acquisitions of WhatsApp and Instagram. Meta and other tech companies are also fighting claims in court that they made their platforms addictive, fueling mental health problems among teens.
Meta has denied any wrongdoing in the cases.
Davis’ clients at King & Spalding included Walmart, trade group Radio Music License Committee and baby food maker Beech-Nut Nutrition Company.
The Atlanta-founded law firm is home to former deputy U.S. attorney general Rod Rosenstein, a Republican, and Sally Yates, who held the role during the Obama administration.
Source : Reuters
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