Meta’s Top Communications Exec Exits After a Tough 2021

John Pinette, the VP of Global Communications for Meta, has announced his departure from the tech giant.

“Today will be my last day at Meta,” Pinette wrote in an internal post obtained by The Wall Street Journal. “I know the team will continue to thrive as you do some of the most important—and most difficult—work in Communications.”

Chris Norton, Meta’s VP of International Communications, will lead the global communications department on an interim basis while Meta searches for a permanent replacement.

Pinette had led Meta’s efforts to promote its products and services and respond to press inquiries since early 2019. Prior to Meta, Pinette had held senior communications roles at Vulcan, Pershing Square, Google and Microsoft.

In a statement provided to Reuters, Meta confirmed Pinette’s departure but declined to comment on the reason behind the decision. The company’s statement read, “John Pinette has left Meta. We are thankful for his positive contributions during an intense and significant time in the company’s history, and we wish him well going forward.”

His departure comes just a month after reports that Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg told Meta’s executives to be more forceful when responding to bad publicity.

Over the past few years, Meta has been under scrutiny from regulators and the public for its role in spreading misinformation, spurring radicalization and negatively impacting mental health. This scrutiny was intensified in late 2021 when Frances Haugen, a former Facebook employee, released internal documents that showed company researchers were actively aware of the harms that Meta’s platforms had caused.