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Mark Zuckerberg threatened a UK government minister that he would possibly pull funding from the nation in a secret meeting that happened in Paris simply two months after the Cambridge Analytica scandal broke. The Facebook CEO met with Matt Hancock, who was on the time the UK’s digital secretary, however who has since been promoted to well being secretary, in May 2018 on the VivaTech convention in Paris.
What the pair mentioned was revealed on Tuesday in a report by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, which has been concerned in a two-year battle with the UK government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport after the division tried to dam a Freedom of Information request. Following intervention by the Information Commissioner’s Office, the UK’s knowledge and privateness watchdog, the minutes have now been launched, with some elements redacted.
At the time of the meeting, the UK was insisting that Zuckerberg give proof about Cambridge Analytica at a choose committee listening to. In the times earlier than the meeting, Hancock had publicly criticized the Facebook CEO for dodging a meeting with lawmakers. The minutes clarify how Zuckerberg solely agreed to the meeting “after several days of wrangling” throughout which he needed to be persuaded that the UK was not going to exert additional stress on him to attend a listening to.
The meeting started with “an ambience of guarded hostility,” in line with the minutes, however they conclude that the meeting was “positive” and that the UK’s “messages landed well.”
During the meeting Zuckerberg “spoke of an anti-tech UK government” and joked that he would possibly add the nation to the checklist of nations he refuses to go to, alongside with one different, which in the printed minutes was redacted. (At the time Zuckerberg was being threatened with a proper summons to Parliament if he set foot in the nation, however so far as is understood, Zuckerberg nonetheless has not visited the UK for the reason that Cambridge Analytica scandal broke.)
Facebook has a big hub in the UK, however through the meeting Zuckerberg made the menace to shift its important funding to different nations in Europe. “MZ [Mark Zuckerberg] said the UK is the obvious territory in Europe for them to invest in, but they are now considering looking elsewhere,” say the minutes.
Hancock used the meeting to stipulate the UK’s plans to control Big Tech, which Zuckerberg was reportedly supportive of, despite the fact that he was involved concerning the government’s “tone.” The digital secretary reassured the Facebook boss that the tone might now shift from “threatening regulation to encouraging collaborative working,” including that he needed to have the ability to say he had Facebook’s assist on the highest degree.
A spokeswoman for Facebook said the company had long said there need to be new regulations to set high standards across the internet. “In fact last year Mark Zuckerberg called on governments to establish new rules around harmful content, privacy, data portability, and election integrity,” she said in a statement. “The UK is our largest engineering hub outside of the US and just this year we created 1,000 new roles in the country.”
The meeting minutes concluded: “If there really is a widespread perception in the valley that the UK government is anti-tech then shifting the tone is vital.”
Representatives for Hancock and DCMS didn’t immediately respond to request for comment. But Damian Collins, who at the time was leading the parliamentary inquiry into the Cambridge Analytica scandal and had summoned Zuckerberg to give evidence said the minutes were proof “Zuckerberg was running scared.”
“It shows how afraid Mark Zuckerberg is of scrutiny that Facebook saw questions about the safety of users data on their platform, and how they worked with Cambridge Analytica as an ‘anti-tech’ agenda,” said Collins in a tweet. “I’d be happy to discuss this with Mark Zuckerberg on Facebook Live anytime.”
(This story has not been edited by Newslivenation workers and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)