Mark Zuckerberg is going to personally lobby EU lawmakers as Facebook faces a host of problems in Europe

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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg

  • Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will visit European lawmakers in Brussels in February, Bloomberg reports.
  • A Facebook spokesperson said Zuckerberg will discuss “a framework for new rules and regulation for the internet” with EU officials.
  • Facebook faces a host of potential regulatory difficulties in the EU, including new taxes, regulations on AI, and two antitrust investigations.
  • Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Mark Zuckerberg is going on a lobbying mission to Brussels in February. 

“Next month, Mark Zuckerberg will travel to Europe to participate in the Munich Security Conference, and meet with European decision-makers in Brussels to discuss a framework for new rules and regulation for the internet,” Facebook confirmed to Business Insider in a statement.

Bloomberg first reported the news.

“New rules and regulation for the internet” leaves a lot of room for interpretation, and Facebook did not immediately respond when asked by Business Insider what exactly the tech billionaire will be discussing with lawmakers — but the company faces a slew of difficulties.

The news of Zuckerberg’s trip comes just one week after the EU’s tech regulator Margrethe Vestager said the EU could introduce laws taxing the revenues big tech companies make in European countries, similar to radical tax plans proposed in countries including France and the UK.

The timing of the visit will also coincide with the EU introducing a white paper on future regulation for artificial intelligence, as was first reported by Bloomberg earlier this month.

Facebook along with Google and Twitter has also been pushing back against moves to make tech companies liable for illegal content hosted on their platforms. The EU said in a statement last year it would publish its assessment on the matter in early 2020.

The social network giant is also facing two antitrust probes from the EU. The first is into Facebook’s proposed plans to launch its own cryptocurrency called Libra, and the second is into how it collects and monetizes user data.

One thing is certain: Zuckerberg will not be short of topics for discussion.

SEE ALSO: Facebook’s Jay Parikh, the veteran datacenter exec who helped the company cope with explosive user growth, is the latest insider to leave

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