• Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg threatened to pull Facebook’s planned investments in the UK over the government’s ‘anti-tech’ attitude, according to notes obtained by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism.
• In a private meeting in Paris 2018, government minister Matt Hancock told Zuckerberg he wanted a ‘new beginning’ in relations with Facebook, following news of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. 
• Damian Collins, former head of the DCMS committee, said the notes prove Zuckerberg was ‘determined’ not to appear before MPs as they investigated the impact of misinformation on social media. 
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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly threatened to yank the firm’s investments in the UK over its perceived “anti-tech” attitude, during a secret meeting with government officials.

The meeting took place in May 2018, and came in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal during which Facebook came under intense public scrutiny.

According to internal notes from the private meeting, obtained by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, Matt Hancock, then chief of DCMS (the Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport), was hoping for a “new beginning” in relations with Facebook.

Facebook was, at the time, battling scrutiny from UK lawmakers over Cambridge Analytica, and facing an increasingly unfriendly regulatory environment in the UK.

According to the report, UK officials assured Zuckerberg the meeting with Hancock “would be positive”, with the minister promising to change the government’s tack from threatening regulation to “encouraging collaborative working to ensure legislation is proportionate and innovation-friendly.”

In the meeting, held during the VivaTech conference in Paris, Zuckerberg is said to have accused the UK government of having an “anti-tech” attitude, joking at one point it was only one of two countries he would not visit. It’s possible that Zuckerberg was referencing China, although this part of the notes is redacted and has not been confirmed. 

The notes reference apparent US confusion over the role of Damian Collins, the lawmaker who chaired a DCMS select committee probe into disinformation in 2017 and was one of Facebook’s most vociferous critics. An ongoing bugbear for Collins was Zuckerberg’s continued refusal to appear before the select committee. Though an elected official, Collins was not a minister in government at the time.

The notes also say Zuckerberg called the UK the “obvious territory in Europe” for Facebook to invest in, but added they were “now considering looking elsewhere.” 

It appears that Facebook’s carrot-and-stick approach was effective on Hancock, who is famously pro-tech.

According to the notes, there was an apparent “shift in ambience” between Hancock and Zuckerberg, with the two men moving from “guarded hostility to cautious optimism” during the meeting about Facebook’s future in the UK. 

“If there really is a widespread perception in the valley that the UK Government is anti-tech then shifting the tone is vital,” the notes read. “London Tech Week is a great opportunity, and couldn’t have arrived at a better time.”

Damian Collins, the former select committee chief, wrote on Twitter: “The note of the meeting between Mark Zuckerberg & Matt Hancock in May 2018, 2 months after the Cambridge Analytica scandal, and published today by @TBIJ shows Facebook didn’t like the @CommonsDCMS inquiry I chaired & that Mark Zuckerberg was determined not to appear as a witness.”

Business Insider approached the UK government and Facebook for comment.