Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg feared the UK was ‘anti-tech’ and wanted to invest in Europe instead

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Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg feared the UK was ‘anti-tech’ and wanted to invest in Europe instead because he was ‘worried about the tone’ of Matt Hancock’s plans for new cyber-bullying laws, documents reveal

  • Minutes from private Paris meeting between Mark Zuckerberg and Matt Hancock
  • They show the site’s co-founder was ‘worried about tone’ of Government policy
  • This included Internet Safety Strategy, drawn up as a response to cyberbullying
  • The meeting between Mr Zuckerberg and Mr Hancock took place in May 2018

By James Gant For Mailonline

Published: | Updated:

Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg felt the UK Government was ‘anti-tech’ and considered investing elsewhere in Europe, documents show.

Minutes of a private meeting between Mr Zuckerberg and Matt Hancock in Paris also show the site’s co-founder was ‘worried about the tone’ of the Government policy.

This included the Internet Safety Strategy, which was drawn up to provide a ‘comprehensive response’ to cyberbullying.

The meeting between Mr Zuckerberg and Mr Hancock took place in May 2018 and minutes were published following a two-year Freedom of Information battle by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.

Minutes of a private meeting between Mr Zuckerberg (pictured last year) and Matt Hancock in Paris also show the site’s co-founder was ‘worried about the tone’ of the Government policy

The meeting between Mr Zuckerberg and Mr Hancock (pictured yesterday) took place in May 2018 and minutes were published following a two-year Freedom of Information battle

The meeting between Mr Zuckerberg and Mr Hancock (pictured yesterday) took place in May 2018 and minutes were published following a two-year Freedom of Information battle

How the Internet Safety Strategy aimed to tame the online ‘wild west’ and make Britain the safest place in the world to surf the web

In 2017 the then Culture Secretary Karen Bradley unveiled a ‘internet safety strategy’ to ensure web firms face up to their responsibilities on trolling and cyberbullying.

As part of the strategy, social media companies for the first time were told to publish how many complaints they get each year about abuse – and what proportion of abusive messages are actually taken down.

it followed calls for the firms to publish an annual ‘internet safety transparency report’, laying out how they handle complaints and what efforts they made to moderate content.

The Government hoped it would expose the ‘true scale of risks and harms that users encounter on their platforms’, with web firms told to disclose how many children and women are targeted.

In May 2018, the then Culture Secretary Matt Hancock brought in new laws to ‘make sure that the UK is the safest place in the world to be online’.

Government consultations revealed users felt powerless to address safety issues online and tech firms operated without sufficient oversight or transparency.

At the time of the study, six in ten people said they had witnessed inappropriate or harmful content online.

A week before the meeting at the VivaTech conference, Mr Hancock, then culture secretary, said new laws would be introduced to tackle the internet’s ‘wild west’ and make Britain the ‘safest place in the world’ to be online.

The minutes show although Mr Zuckerberg ‘supported UK Government policy (including regulation of the internet) he was worried about tone’.

They said: ‘Matt explained that he wanted to use the decision to legislate as a new beginning for UK Government relationships with the platforms – now the decision was public, the tone can shift from threatening regulation to encouraging collaborative working to ensure legislation is proportionate and innovation-friendly.

‘He explained that he wanted increased dialogue with MZ so he can bring forward the message that he has support from Facebook at the highest level.’

The document shows Facebook had to be ‘explicitly assure(d)… that we were after a positive meeting and wouldn’t simply demand MZ attended the select committee’.

Mr Zuckerberg declined several invitations to appear at parliamentary committees looking into fake news, instead sending other executives from the social network.

The minutes said: ‘MZ spoke of an anti-tech UK Government and said he jokes about adding the UK as the only country in the world he will not visit… MZ said the UK is the obvious territory in Europe for them to invest in, but they are now considering looking elsewhere.’

It comes as Britain’s competition watchdog outlined a new regime for regulating tech giants such as Google and Facebook, saying it needed new powers to harness the full potential of digital markets and drive competition and innovation.

It proposed a new, legally binding code of conduct, pro-competitive interventions in the market and enhanced merger rules, overseen by a Digital Markets Unit that was announced by the government last month.

The new regime, which will require government legislation, will be part of a wider regulatory framework for digital markets, including new rules for harmful online content and data protection, the CMA said.

The minutes show although Mr Zuckerberg 'supported UK Government policy (including regulation of the internet) he was worried about tone' (file photo)

The minutes show although Mr Zuckerberg ‘supported UK Government policy (including regulation of the internet) he was worried about tone’ (file photo)

CMA Chief Executive Andrea Coscelli said consumers and businesses who relied on tech giants like Google and Facebook should be treated fairly, and competitors should face a level playing field.

‘For that to happen, the UK needs new powers and a new approach,’ he said on Tuesday.

‘In short, we need a modern regulatory regime that can enable innovation to thrive, while taking swift action to prevent problems.’

Facebook opened a new London office in December, 2017, which made the city the firm’s largest engineering hub outside the US at the time.

In January, 2020, Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg announced the company would hire more staff to take its total UK employee numbers to 4,000.