Meta top official warns penalising US companies will not make EU competitive

Europe’s regulatory action against US tech companies is pushing the continent “to the sidelines”, Meta’s new global policy chief, Joel Kaplan, said in a live-streamed interview at an event hosted by the company in Brussels on Tuesday. 

Kaplan argued that while a global AI revolution is unfolding, it’s important to drive competitiveness and economic growth to open innovation and transatlantic cooperation, and for Europe to look for stronger collaboration with the US and its companies. 

“Embracing an open approach to AI will help Europe compete globally, drive innovation, and boost economic growth. If Europe and the US don’t work together, the only winner will be China,” he said. 

Kaplan, who joined Facebook in 2011, is the company’s current vice president of global public policy. He served eight years in the administration of Republican President George W Bush and worked as a lobbyist. He takes over from Nick Clegg, who announced in early January that he will step down.

His comments fit the recent company narrative. In January, CEO Mark Zuckerberg spoke about the US election result, claiming that Meta would work with incoming US President Donald Trump to push back on countries that are trying to rein in social media platforms.

Code of practice on AI

Kaplan also said that Meta will not sign up to the European Commission’s Code of Practice on General Purpose Artificial Intelligence, as it stands now.

In September, the Commission tasked a group of independent experts to draft by April this year such as a Code of Practice, which includes language models such as ChatGPT and Google Gemini. It aims at helping companies comply with the AI Act's rules, including on transparency and copyright-related rules, systemic risk taxonomy, risk assessment, and mitigation measures. 

“While political and business leaders across Europe are calling for a change in direction, the EU is responding with a Code of Practice that introduces even more rules that go beyond the AI Act in ways that are, frankly, unworkable. [... ] as it stands today, Meta wouldn’t sign up to the current draft,” Kaplan said.

A third draft version of the Code is set to be published mid-February. The Commission can approve the Code through powers delegated under the AI Act.

The AI Act will fully enter into force in August of this year, but provisions on banned systems including facial recognition systems started to apply as of last Sunday.