A senior figure in Meta’s European policy division has formally revealed that she will be departing the company, and she chose to mark her exit in a rather unconventional way: by leaving behind a playful yet pointed evaluation of the organization. Instead of the usual farewell note, Christelle Dernon humorously gave Meta a “Met Most Expectations” performance rating in an internal post, framing the company itself as the subject of the review rather than her own professional conduct.
According to her LinkedIn profile, Dernon has served as a public policy manager since 2021, focusing on political, regulatory, and commercial campaigns throughout Europe. Her announcement was published on Wednesday within Meta’s internal communication platform, Workplace, where she confirmed that her final day with the company would fall on the upcoming Friday. In her message, Dernon addressed her colleagues and candidly wrote that after four years of thorough dedication, she felt it was the right moment to embrace the next stage of her career journey. She cheekily added her review of Meta’s performance: “Met Most Expectations,” adding the clarification that her expectations had been extraordinarily ambitious from the outset.
Within Meta’s employee evaluation system, the label “Met Most Expectations” is not a trivial classification. Out of the nine established categories used to assess workforce contributions, this specific designation represents the fifth-highest tier. In essence, it indicates consistently solid, though not top-tier, fulfillment of the company’s exceedingly high standards. Earlier this year, Meta’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, had already underscored the importance of enforcing stronger performance accountability, promising to more swiftly part ways with employees who consistently underachieved. Against this backdrop, Dernon’s own tongue-in-cheek evaluation of the company itself carried particular resonance.
During her tenure, Dernon played a hands-on role in several of Meta’s most visible European policy initiatives. She contributed to campaigns surrounding the European Union’s landmark Digital Services Act (DSA) and Digital Markets Act (DMA), major pieces of legislation that substantially recalibrate how global technology corporations must comply with European regulations. She also coordinated Meta’s high-profile open letter on artificial intelligence regulation — a document signed by over 40 leading CEOs within the technology and business sectors — which sought to influence the ongoing political discussion around responsible innovation and AI governance. Her contributions included organizing strategy-driven “red-teaming” events designed for policy experts, facilitating practical discourse at a time when the trajectory of AI policymaking in Europe carried heightened global significance.
Neither Dernon nor Meta issued formal commentary following the announcement, although news outlets confirmed that attempts to reach Dernon directly had been unsuccessful. The timing of her resignation is notable, as it comes only a month after another major departure within the same department. Monica Allen, who held the position of director for European public policy campaigns, also bid farewell to Meta in August. In a highly personal post shared on LinkedIn, Allen reflected on her upcoming plans with a more intimate message, emphasizing that she intended to spend valuable time with her young child and partner before considering her next professional endeavors.
Allen’s professional background reflected deep political and advisory experience: she had worked closely with former UK Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg as a special advisor before he transitioned to Meta, where he would eventually become the company’s president of global affairs. Upon joining Meta in 2022, Allen was tasked with leading high-priority policy initiatives, including those concerning generative AI, the immersive virtual world ambitions for the metaverse, and critical questions around digital safety for young users. Her exit, paired with Dernon’s, marks two significant changes at the leadership level of Meta’s European public policy strategy within only a short interval.
These resignations arrive during a period when Meta faces steep and intensifying political and regulatory obstacles across Europe. In July, Joel Kaplan, Meta’s chief global affairs officer, reiterated the company’s apprehensions in a LinkedIn post. He strongly criticized aspects of the European Union’s emerging framework on artificial intelligence, arguing that the AI Act represented governmental overextension. Kaplan warned that the regulatory provisions risked stifling innovation and slowing the deployment of cutting-edge AI models within the European marketplace. He further noted that Meta would decline to endorse the EU’s voluntary Code of Practice on AI, which compels organizations to provide detailed reporting on their systems’ capabilities and strictly prohibits the use of illegally obtained content to train models.
Regulatory changes are not confined solely to artificial intelligence. Meta has also declared that beginning in October, it will cease accepting any form of political, electoral, or issue-based advertising across the European Union. The decision was taken as a direct response to the incoming EU regulation on the Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising, which imposes stringent new compliance standards. Meta publicly described the regulation’s implementation requirements not merely as challenging but explicitly labeled them “unworkable.”
In her farewell message, Dernon adopted a thoughtful blend of humor, sentimentality, and seriousness. She reflected on her initial motivation to join Meta, pointing to an early era when the company — then still strongly associated with its Facebook brand — seemed to symbolize a new paradigm in online social interaction. She recalled how events such as the Obama presidential campaign, the Arab Spring, and the launch of the Safety Check feature created a sense that the platform was reshaping the role of social technology in the twenty-first century. With this vision in mind, she turned down a separate promotion elsewhere to pursue her aspiration of working at Meta, arriving with dedication, conviction, and conviction of purpose.
She listed her achievements with precision, mentioning the leadership roles she assumed in EU-wide policy efforts, her work in crafting and executing robust advocacy strategies, and her coordination of multi-stakeholder collaborations involving major corporate voices. Dernon also expressed profound gratitude to the colleagues who had supported and challenged her, highlighting teams across the European Public Policy division, the specialized AI campaign squad, and an array of cross-functional partners around the globe. Special thanks were extended to her Paris office colleagues and several key leaders who provided mentorship and professional trust throughout her four years at Meta.
Looking forward, Dernon underscored that her next chapter will be a period of exploration and renewal. She intends to dedicate time both to entrepreneurial endeavors and to travel, combining professional experimentation with personal enrichment. Although she departs, she encouraged her former colleagues at Meta to continue cultivating the traits she found most admirable in the organization — boldness, creativity, and a commitment to its original values — and she concluded her farewell on a note of resilience, asserting that she leaves more confident, more principled, and with a clearer vision of herself as a leader.
Ultimately, the successive exits of Dernon and Allen underscore not only the voluntary mobility of senior figures within Meta’s European operations but also the mounting turbulence of the regulatory environment that the company must navigate. As scrutiny intensifies from Brussels and beyond, the challenges of aligning a global technology giant’s approach with European values remain formidable, and the departure of prominent strategists only underscores the significance of the task still ahead.
Sourse: https://www.businessinsider.com/meta-policy-manager-christelle-dernon-exit-performance-review-met-most-2025-9
