Mark Zuckerberg to meet with European regulators ahead of proposals intended to rein in power of US and Chinese tech giants
- Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is meeting with European regulators next week.
- The meeting comes just days before European commissioners are scheduled to present regulations intended to curtail competition from American and Chinese tech giants.
- It's a rare appearance for Zuckerberg in Europe - he was last there in an official capacity back in 2018.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will meet with Europe's digital and industry chiefs on February 17, officials said on Tuesday, days before the two Commissioners present proposals to rein in US tech giants and Chinese rivals.
In addition to European Competition and Digital Commissioner Margrethe Vestager and Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton, Zuckerberg will also meet justice chief Vera Jourova, the officials said.
Vestager and Breton are set to announce proposals on Feb. 19 to create a single European data market aimed at challenging the dominance of US tech giants such as Facebook, Google and Amazon, according to a European Commission proposal seen by Reuters.
They will also propose rules to govern the use of artificial intelligence. The Commission is expected to seek feedback before finalizing the rules.
Facebook is already in Vestager's crosshairs over its use of data collected by the company over the years from classified ads players and its right to use their data for any purpose including to launch competing products, according to a questionnaire seen by Reuters.
Zuckerberg's last public appearance in Brussels was in 2018 when he met European Parliament leaders to answer questions on how the data of 2.7 million European users was improperly shared with political consultancy Cambridge Analytica.
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; editing by David Evans)