Nick Clegg’s cameo in Mark Zuckerberg’s presentation is causing a huge amount of cringe

Yesterday saw the official announcement marking the rebrand of Mark Zuckerberg’s company Facebook to “Meta”.

It came in the form of a presentation at Facebook’s annual Connect conference and featured a surprise cameo from none other than Nick Clegg.

Clegg is the former deputy Prime Minister and former leader of the Liberal Democrats who infamously lost a vast amount of support from students for abandoning his party pledge to scrap tuition fees in 2010. He famously later released an apology video.

Since 2018, he has been the Vice‑President for Global Affairs and Communications at Facebook and has appeared in the new presentation attempting to explain how Meta will be safe for a democratic society and children.

Journalist Carole Cadwalladr posted a clip of Clegg’s contribution to Twitter, writing: “The whole presentation is worth watching in full for the complete mindf**k experience.

“But @nickclegg is always a highlight. Here he is allaying fears that the metaverse might destroy democracy or launch nuclear missiles from your toaster which of course it can’t.”

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It’s fair to say his appearance has not gone down very well, particularly among those familiar with Clegg’s political past.

One person wrote: “And you thought Nick Clegg’s sorry video was his low point. Good heavens.”

Another said: “I imagine Nick Clegg is paid enough by Meta he could pay off the student debt of everyone who went to university post 2011.”

Someone else commented: “CRINGE. How did Nick Clegg ever persuade the UK electorate that he wouldn’t raise tuition fees with this acting?!”

Another person said: “I think I’ve died of cringe.”