Facebook has hired the State Department’s top lawyer to manage its legal affairs amid growing regulatory scrutiny around the globe.
As general counsel for the Menlo Park, Calif.-based social media giant, Jennifer Newstead succeeds Colin Stretch, who joined Facebook in 2010 and became general counsel in 2013. Stretch will remain at Facebook through the summer, the company said.
“Jennifer is a seasoned leader whose global perspective and experience will help us fulfill our mission,” Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said in a statement. “We are also truly grateful to Colin for his dedicated leadership and wise counsel over the past nine years. He has played a crucial role in some of our most important projects.”
Newstead takes over as Facebook grapples with fallout from scandals including misuse by Russian agents attempting to sway U.S. voters during the 2016 presidential election. As Facebook’s top lawyer, Stretch appeared on Capitol Hill in November 2017 to field questions from lawmakers about the platform’s handling of Kremlin interference.
The firm has since been questioned about violent content and hate speech, as well as its protection of user data after the revelation that Cambridge Analytica, a data firm that worked with the Trump campaign, improperly harvested and misused personal information from 50 million Facebook accountholders.
President Trump nominated Newstead to serve as the State Department’s legal adviser in September 2017, and she was confirmed by the Senate that December.
“Her expertise and sharp judgment on an array of critical foreign policy issues will be greatly missed,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement. “As the first woman ever to head the State Department’s Office of the Legal Adviser, she exemplified the leadership qualities for which American diplomats are renowned the world over.”
Prior to joining the State Department, Newstead was a partner at the law firm Davis, Polk & Wardwell and worked as general counsel of the Office of Management and Budget. She previously clerked for Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.
Also joining Facebook’s ranks is John Pinette, who will serve as vice president of global communications. He previously worked in communications for Google, Microsoft, and Gates Ventures, the private office of tech mogul Bill Gates.
