The 2013 Davos Economic Forum was quite successful on Facebook, according to a confidential document released by Computer Weekly and The Observer newspapers. The document indicates that the social network would have found a particularly attentive ear in the then Digital Commissioner Neelie Kroes and in the then rotating Presidency of Ireland.
This document traces the contacts made by Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's Director of Operations, with various participants in the Global Forum to influence the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), then being negotiated by the co-legislators.
It shows that, while contact with the then Digital Commissioner Neelie Kroes was easy, the case was less easy with the former Commissioner of Justice Viviane Reding. "We have made progress, but we generally have a difficult relationship with her (she is not a fan of American companies)," says the confidential document, pointing out that the social network tried, without much success, to soften her up by telling her about the place of women.
On the side of the Member States, the note ‘delighted in’ the exchanges with former Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny and British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne. According to the note, the former had pledged to use the function of rotating presidency of the EU Council to achieve a result in line with that desired by Facebook on the GDPR, while the latter “had requested a detailed briefing on the regulation, and will now know how to get more involved”. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)