A senior EU policy manager at Meta has announced that she’s leaving the company — and gave it a “Met Most” rating in a seemingly tongue-in-cheek performance review posted on its internal forum.
Christelle Dernon, a European public policy manager, said in a badge post on Meta’s Workplace forum on Wednesday that she plans to leave on Friday. Dernon has worked as a public policy manager for campaigns and programs in Europe at Meta since 2021, according to her LinkedIn profile.
“Dear Meta, After four solid years, I’ve decided it’s time for me to move on to a new exciting chapter. My last day is this Friday,” Dernon wrote in the post, seen by Business Insider. “So, time for a performance review. Your’s not mine [wink emoji] Rating: Met Most Expectations* *caveat: they were sky-high.”
Meta has nine categories of ratings for its annual performance reviews, with “Met Most expectations” being the fifth-best, according to an internal document seen by Business Insider. In January, Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg announced the company would be acting quicker to get rid of “low performers.”
Dernon said in the post that she worked on the campaign for the EU’s Digital Services Act, Digital Markets Act, and helped coordinate Meta’s open letter on AI regulation that was signed by over 40 CEOs.
Meta declined to comment. Dernon could not immediately be reached for comment.
Dernon’s departure comes just a month after Meta’s director of public policy campaigns in Europe, Monica Allen, announced she was leaving the company, according to a post Allen shared on LinkedIn.
“What’s next? First, basking in late summer lightness and time-richness with Mr Monica and the kiddo, who is robust enough for adventure and young enough to still want to spend a lot of time with his mama,” Allen wrote.
Allen, who had earlier been a special advisor to former Meta president of global affairs Nick Clegg when he was serving as the UK’s deputy prime minister, joined Meta in 2022. She led the direction of “high priority” policy campaigns, some of which relate to generative AI, the metaverse, and youth safety and wellbeing, according to her LinkedIn profile.
The two departures from Meta’s EU public policy team come at a time when it faces heightened regulatory pressure.
Meta’s chief global affairs officer, Joel Kaplan, said in a July LinkedIn post that Europe is “heading down the wrong path on AI” and that Meta would not be signing the European Union’s code of practice, a voluntary framework to comply with the Artificial Intelligence Act, which came into effect last year.
Kaplan said the act is an “over-reach” and would hurt frontier AI model deployment and development in Europe. The code of practice’s requirements include providing regular updates and information about companies’ tools. Developers are also banned from training AI on pirated content.
Meta also said in July that, starting in October, it will stop accepting paid political, electoral, and social-issue advertising across the EU. The decision came in response to the incoming Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising regulation, which comes with requirements that Meta described as “unworkable.”
Read the full memo shared by Dernon:
Dear Meta, After four solid years, I’ve decided it’s time for me to move on to a new exciting chapter. My last day is this Friday. So, time for a performance review. Your’s not mine [wink emoji]. Rating: Met Most Expectations* *caveat: they were sky-high You were my dream employer. I believed in you long before I joined — back when the Obama election, the Arab Spring and Safety Check made it feel like Facebook was helping rewrite what social connection meant in the 21st Century. I defended you (fiercely) through Cambridge Analytica. I turned down a promotion to work here. I came in all-in, with heart, intellect, and purpose. And to your credit, you delivered on lots of what I imagined. I was thrown in at the deep end right away, tackling a multi-pronged campaign sprint on DSA, DMA and data flows. I led bold campaigns on innovation across Europe, coordinated an open letter on AI regulation signed by over 40 CEOs, deployed red-teaming events for policy leaders, and helped shape the AI conversation at a pivotal time. Most importantly, I got to learn from brilliant, funny, resourceful people — the kind who challenge you, help you grow, and somehow make even the wildest weeks survivable. I can’t possibly name everyone but want to extend heartfelt thanks to: – Europe Public Policy rockstars, especially my campaign partners in crime Gillian, Reem, Annette, Aida, Cara, Laura, Julia, Stefan, Stepan for the laughter and team spirit, come hell or high water.
- The core EU AI campaign crew — Carola, Anna, Ellie, Eva, Nicolas, Catherine, Ania – – forever bonded by the joy (and traumas) of the open letter(s) and sprint-marathons.
- Global XFN partners and friends for their collaboration over the years: Katie, Elaine, John, Darren, Donald, Diana, Jennifer, Maeve, DaYoung, Chinny, Raghav, Aanchal, Edgar, Simon, Edouard, Kasia.
- My Paris office support system, in particular the wonderful Aurora, Anne-Sophie, Thomas, Daniel, Grégory, Michèle, Anton’Maria, Elisa, and so many others.
And finally, leadership — thanks to Markus, Nathan, and Bailey for the opportunities, and to Laurent for his guidance and encouragement throughout my time here. And for the next half? Keep leaning into what makes you great: you’re filled with extraordinary talent. Keep empowering people to be bold, direct, imaginative, and true to the values that inspired so many of us to join in the first place. As for me, I’m glad I came. I leave clearer, stronger, and with a renewed sense of the kind of leader I want to be — one who builds with intention, protects what makes people shine, and stays allergic to bullsh*t. For my own next half (that word struck out) year, I’ll be exploring entrepreneurial paths and beautiful places — more to come soon on LinkedIn + behind the scenes on IG.
Thanks for the lessons. Onward. Sincerely, Christelle.
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