How to Save the Internet: Nick Clegg Interview
Sir Nick Clegg is the former UK Deputy Prime Minister (2010-2015) and former President, Global Affairs at Meta (2018-2025). Prior to being elected to the UK Parliament in 2005, he worked in…
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Sir Nick Clegg is the former UK Deputy Prime Minister (2010-2015) and former President, Global Affairs at Meta (2018-2025). Prior to being elected to the UK Parliament in 2005, he worked in…
What 280 conversations with the world's leading thinkers reveal about our technological future
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The current Trump–Silicon Valley consensus—that all forms of regulation somehow constrain the muscular freedom of companies to innovate—is ludicrous.
— Nick CleggDeputy Prime Minister of the UK (2010-2015) & Liberal Democrat Leader
At the end of the day, the platforms will complain, but they exist to serve society—society doesn't exist to serve them.
— Nick CleggDeputy Prime Minister of the UK (2010-2015) & Liberal Democrat Leader
One of the great ironies of a company like Meta, where I worked, is that well over 90% of its users are outside the US, yet well over 90% of the bandwidth among decision-makers is focused on what's happening in America. In the end, that just doesn't make sense.
— Nick CleggDeputy Prime Minister of the UK (2010-2015) & Liberal Democrat Leader
We're not just over-reliant—we're wholly reliant—on American technology across the entire stack. Our data sits in American cloud infrastructure; our hardware is American designed; our software and operating systems are overwhelmingly American; most of the AI systems people interact with are American, and so on.
— Nick CleggDeputy Prime Minister of the UK (2010-2015) & Liberal Democrat Leader
Politicians, by and large, don't understand technology at all, and technologists don't understand politicians—and both tend to denigrate each other. The technologists in Silicon Valley see politicians as venal, short-term, and ignorant, while politicians view technologists as rapacious capitalists who will stop at nothing to beat their rivals and lack any ethical compass.
— Nick CleggDeputy Prime Minister of the UK (2010-2015) & Liberal Democrat Leader
The Trump phenomenon isn't just a blip—there's a genuine rupture across the Atlantic. So, what does that mean in practice? It means we need to protect some of our own sovereign infrastructure—our own sovereign cloud—especially for utilities, security, and intelligence.
— Sir Nick CleggFormer UK Deputy Prime Minister & Liberal Democrat Leader
One of the great ironies of a company like Meta, where I worked, is that well over 90% of its users are outside the US, yet well over 90% of the bandwidth among decision-makers is focused on what's happening in America. In the end, that just doesn't make sense.
— Sir Nick CleggFormer UK Deputy Prime Minister & Liberal Democrat Leader
We're not just over-reliant—we're wholly reliant—on American technology across the entire stack. Our data sits in American cloud infrastructure; our hardware is American designed; our software and operating systems are overwhelmingly American; most of the AI systems people interact with are American, and so on.
— Sir Nick CleggFormer UK Deputy Prime Minister & Liberal Democrat Leader
Politicians, by and large, don't understand technology at all, and technologists don't understand politicians—and both tend to denigrate each other. The technologists in Silicon Valley see politicians as venal, short-term, and ignorant, while politicians view technologists as rapacious capitalists who will stop at nothing to beat their rivals and lack any ethical compass.
— Sir Nick CleggFormer UK Deputy Prime Minister & Liberal Democrat Leader