Revealed: Facebook’s global lobbying against data privacy laws (theguardian.com).
Facebook has targeted politicians around the world—including the former UK chancellor, George Osborne—promising investments and incentives while seeking to pressure them into lobbying on Facebook’s behalf against data privacy legislation, an explosive new leak of internal Facebook documents has revealed.
And quite successfully until caught out being profiteeringly negligent with those “dumb fucks” data in the Cambridge Analytica scandal (Blog 18th March 2018), able to get a similar “sweethearts” deal to Google during “Austerity” Osbourne’s tax ultimatum (thisisnocave.blogspot.com, updated 30th Dec. 2015), the “documents” seen by the Observer and curiously Computer Weekly seemingly emanating from the same court case as documents seized by by Parliament’s Serjeant-at-Arms late last year (Blog 25th Nov. 2018) revealing a “secretive global lobbying operation targeting hundreds of legislators and regulators in an attempt to procure influence across the world” and especially Éire (Ireland) in which it bases its European operation and funnels sales for its advantageous tax rate.
Most revealingly, it includes details of the company’s great relationship” with Enda Kenny, the [former] Irish prime minister, one of a number of people it describes as “friends of Facebook”. Ireland plays a key role in regulating technology companies in Europe because its data protection commissioner acts for all 28 member states.
And while allegedly compromising “principled” politicos to head off “overly restrictive” legislation also using progressive mores to their advantage:
Used chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg’s feminist memoir Lean In to “bond” with female European commissioners it viewed as hostile.
With memos indeed revealing that it was perceived as a lobbying tool by the Facebook team.
In a particularly revealing account of a meeting with Viviane Reding, the influential European commissioner for justice, fundamental rights and citizenship, the memo notes her key role as “the architect of the European Data Directive” and describes the company’s “difficult” relationship with her owing to her being, it claims, “not a fan” of American companies.
But with it seemingly backfiring at Sheryl’s Lean In dinner with notes recording that she felt it was a “very ‘American’ discussion”. And you thought it was just some of those using Fidiotbook who were manipulative and somewhat creepy.
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