Beautiful Virgin Islands

Monday, Oct 06, 2025

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg

Mark Zuckerberg threatened to shift Facebook investment away from UK, papers reveal

Matt Hancock told social media boss in private meeting he wanted a shift in government tone on internet policy
Matt Hancock told Mark Zuckerberg in a private meeting that he wanted to shift the government’s approach to big tech companies, after the Facebook boss threatened to pull investment out of the UK.

Details of the meeting, which took place in 2018 when Mr Hancock was culture secretary with responsibility for social media regulation, are contained in official papers released to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism following a lengthy freedom of information battle.

According to the note of the meeting taken by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Mr Hancock told the Facebook boss that he wanted to shift the government’s tone from being one of “threatening regulation” towards an approach of “encouraging collaborative working to ensure legislation is proportionate and innovation-friendly”.

The meeting, at a technology conference in Paris, came days after Mr Hancock had denounced Mr Zuckerberg for resisting demands from the House of Commons Culture Committee to give evidence to its inquiry into fake news.

Shortly before, the UK government had announced new legislation on internet safety.

The Facebook CEO spoke of an “anti-tech” government in London and joked that Britain might become one of the only two countries he could not visit - the other presumably being China.

And the note recorded that he “said the UK was the obvious territory in Europe for them to invest in, but they are now considering looking elsewhere”.

Mr Hancock sought “increased dialogue” with Zuckerberg, “so he can bring forward the message that he has support from Facebook at the highest level”, said the DCMS minutes.

The next month, Hancock had a follow-up meeting with Elliot Schrage, then Facebook’s top lobbyist, who later wrote thanking him for setting out his thinking on “how we can work together on building a model for sensible co-regulation

Mr Schrage also stated that the “challenges of online safety” should be “achieved in a constructive and collaborative way”, before signing off by saying Facebook was close to providing an update on its “commitment to London”.

The document showed that it took “several days of wrangling” by DCMS to persuade Mr Zuckerberg to take part in the meeting, and that Facebook had to be given explicit assurances that Mr Hancock wanted a “positive meeting” and would not simply use it to repeat demands for the tech boss to appear before MPs.

Former Commons Culture Committee chair Damian Collins said: The context of Mark Zuckerberg’s 2018 meeting with Matt Hancock was that it was two months after the Cambridge Analytica scandal had broken and Mark Zuckerberg was refusing our requests for him to appear before the committee to discuss it.

“The notes from this meeting clearly show that Mark Zuckerberg was running scared of the DCMS committee investigation on disinformation and fake news and was actively seeking to avoid being questioned by us about what he knew and when about the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

“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. I’d be happy to discuss this with Mark Zuckerberg on Facebook Live anytime.

The minutes also reveal that Mr Hancock was due to visit Facebook in September 2018, but in the event this did not take place as he was moved to the Department of Health.

The BIJ initially requested notes from the meeting in November 2018, and fought a long freedom of information battle to secure their release.

Reporter Matthew Chapman said: “Matt Hancock’s obsequious dealings with Mark Zuckerberg are more like those of a flunkey of Facebook rather than a government minister in charge of regulating big tech.

“It has been a bitter struggle to discover what was discussed at the meeting. The government has gone to great lengths to cover up a discussion that has far-reaching implications for British society and democracy. The entire process raises serious questions about transparency within government and the deference it shows technology companies.”

Erin Alcock of the BIJ’s lawyers Leigh Day said: “The public should know what their government is discussing with powerful individuals and organisations such as Facebook and whether their government is working to protect the rights of individuals over their own data, and their safety and security online.”

A Facebook spokesman said: “Facebook has long said we need 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.

“The UK is our largest engineering hub outside of the US and just this year we created 1,000 new roles in the country.”

Matt Hancock told Mark Zuckerberg in a private meeting that he wanted to shift the government’s approach to big tech companies, after the Facebook boss threatened to pull investment out of the UK.

Details of the meeting, which took place in 2018 when Mr Hancock was culture secretary with responsibility for social media regulation, are contained in official papers released to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism following a lengthy freedom of information battle.

According to the note of the meeting taken by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Mr Hancock told the Facebook boss that he wanted to shift the government’s tone from being one of “threatening regulation” towards an approach of “encouraging collaborative working to ensure legislation is proportionate and innovation-friendly”.

The meeting, at a technology conference in Paris, came days after Mr Hancock had denounced Mr Zuckerberg for resisting demands from the House of Commons Culture Committee to give evidence to its inquiry into fake news.

Shortly before, the UK government had announced new legislation on internet safety.

The Facebook CEO spoke of an “anti-tech” government in London and joked that Britain might become one of the only two countries he could not visit - the other presumably being China.

And the note recorded that he “said the UK was the obvious territory in Europe for them to invest in, but they are now considering looking elsewhere”.

Mr Hancock sought “increased dialogue” with Zuckerberg, “so he can bring forward the message that he has support from Facebook at the highest level”, said the DCMS minutes.

The next month, Hancock had a follow-up meeting with Elliot Schrage, then Facebook’s top lobbyist, who later wrote thanking him for setting out his thinking on “how we can work together on building a model for sensible co-regulation

on online safety issues”.

Mr Schrage also stated that the “challenges of online safety” should be “achieved in a constructive and collaborative way”, before signing off by saying Facebook was close to providing an update on its “commitment to London”.

The document showed that it took “several days of wrangling” by DCMS to persuade Mr Zuckerberg to take part in the meeting, and that Facebook had to be given explicit assurances that Mr Hancock wanted a “positive meeting” and would not simply use it to repeat demands for the tech boss to appear before MPs.

Former Commons Culture Committee chair Damian Collins said: The context of Mark Zuckerberg’s 2018 meeting with Matt Hancock was that it was two months after the Cambridge Analytica scandal had broken and Mark Zuckerberg was refusing our requests for him to appear before the committee to discuss it.

“The notes from this meeting clearly show that Mark Zuckerberg was running scared of the DCMS committee investigation on disinformation and fake news and was actively seeking to avoid being questioned by us about what he knew and when about the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

“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. I’d be happy to discuss this with Mark Zuckerberg on Facebook Live anytime.

The minutes also reveal that Mr Hancock was due to visit Facebook in September 2018, but in the event this did not take place as he was moved to the Department of Health.

The BIJ initially requested notes from the meeting in November 2018, and fought a long freedom of information battle to secure their release.

Reporter Matthew Chapman said: “Matt Hancock’s obsequious dealings with Mark Zuckerberg are more like those of a flunkey of Facebook rather than a government minister in charge of regulating big tech.

“It has been a bitter struggle to discover what was discussed at the meeting. The government has gone to great lengths to cover up a discussion that has far-reaching implications for British society and democracy. The entire process raises serious questions about transparency within government and the deference it shows technology companies.”

Erin Alcock of the BIJ’s lawyers Leigh Day said: “The public should know what their government is discussing with powerful individuals and organisations such as Facebook and whether their government is working to protect the rights of individuals over their own data, and their safety and security online.”

A Facebook spokesman said: “Facebook has long said we need 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.

“The UK is our largest engineering hub outside of the US and just this year we created 1,000 new roles in the country.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
×