Kamal Ghorui
Facebook-parent Meta’s senior public policy executive for Asia-Pacific is leaving the company amid regulatory challenges in the region. Singapore-based Simon Milner has been with Meta since 2012. In a recent LinkedIn post, he announced that he will leave the company in the first half of this year to retire from full-time work. In his post, Milner said: “I recently celebrated the completion of my 14th year at Meta. That’s around half of my long career in public policy.”The departure comes as Meta faces increased scrutiny of its platforms and is focusing more on artificial intelligence (AI). Recent regulatory challenges include Australia’s decision to restrict children’s access to social media. In his role, Milner leads staff in countries including China, India, and Japan, according to his LinkedIn profile. He previously served as head of policy for the UK and Ireland before becoming a director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Read Meta’s Asia Policy chief Simon Milner’s farewell note
In his farewell note on LinkedIn, Milner wrote: “I recently celebrated the completion of my 14th year at Meta. That’s around half of my long career in public policy. The first half the BBC and BT (aka British Telecom) was exhilarating but, frankly, the second half has been off the scale in terms of opportunity, challenge and impact. I have thoroughly enjoyed being at the heart of innovation and count myself extremely lucky. Having passed this milestone, I’m now excited to begin the next stage of my life. I’ll be leaving Meta later this half and retiring from full-time work. It’s been the privilege of my career to spend the last 8 years working on the most critical policy issues for Meta and the APAC region. I’ll be sticking around for a few more months to help determine my successor and ensure they are well placed to lead the APAC Policy team on to even greater success.”How Simon Milner’s exit can be a ‘problem’ for MetaPublic policy staff typically advise companies on regulatory issues and coordinate with governments. The Asia-Pacific region is essential to Meta because of its many populous, youthful markets that can support the social media company’s growth.Recently, Taiwan and Japan criticised Meta for Facebook-based financial scams. In 2025, Taiwanese banks removed their advertisements from Facebook due to the rise of fake bank ads, while Japanese lawmakers called on Meta to take action against ads using images of celebrities to deceive users.Moreover, to protect young people from online harms, Australia implemented a ban on children under 16 accessing social media platforms such as Meta’s Instagram and Facebook in December 2025. Other Asian countries, including Indonesia and Malaysia, have also said they have been inspired to adopt similar measures.Meanwhile, Meta has said it has implemented many safety features for young people on its services over the years.
