Patrick Walker, Facebook’s content boss for the EMEA region, has stepped down. In a post on, fittingly, Facebook, he said he was leaving the social media giant to set up a new business.
“I’ve decided to move forward myself to help shape the future where I’m more needed now by co-founding a new business at the crossroads of education, technology and inspiration,” he posted. “That’s all I can say for now…Watch this space!”
A former YouTube and Google exec, Walker joined Facebook in June 2016. He was part of the team that launched the Watch video platform in Europe. The company confirmed his departure and is looking for a replacement.
Walker said his time at Facebook was “remarkably fulfilling (and often thrilling).” He added: “From teaming up with colleagues and partners worldwide to help shape the future of media on our platforms, to telling our story with our incredibly capable exec, comms and policy teams, I have nothing but gratitude for the opportunity I’ve been given to learn, grow and make an impact with all of you.
“I’m particularly proud of how the partnerships team came together over these years to guide publishers, creators and public figures through the inevitable ups and downs we all faced in furthering our company’s most critical mission.”
Walker has been at Facebook through a period in which it launched Watch internationally, and was also under the microscope for its use of customer data and the spreading of fake news. Late last year he told U.K. press that Facebook had “made a number of mistakes by not anticipating, I think, some of the challenges a platform of our size and scope will bring, and we’ve learned the hard way.”
Prior to Facebook, Walker was CEO at online video platform business Rightster, now operating as Brave Bison.