The global policy director of Meta Platforms Inc. said that the tech giant is ready to appeal to US President Donald Trump if the European Union uses its digital rules to target the company's products, Bloomberg reports.
Joel Kaplan, a longtime Republican strategist, was appointed by Mark Zuckerberg as chairman of global affairs after Trump's re-election. At a security conference in Munich, he said that the Trump administration should assess whether EU fines against US tech companies are unfair. Meta is ready to present its position if it feels discriminated against.
“When companies are treated differently and in a way that is discriminatory against them, then that should be highlighted to that company’s home government,” Kaplan said in response to a question from Stephanie Flenders, head of economics and governments at Bloomberg, during a panel on Sunday in the Bavarian capital.
By the way, Trump has put the issue of EU fines for tech companies on his trade agenda, saying at the last World Economic Forum in Davos that these measures are "a form of taxation" and mentioned "some very big complaints about the EU."
“While we want to work within the confines of the laws that Europe has passed — and we always will — we will point out when we think we’ve been treated unfairly,” Kaplan added.
After Trump's re-election, Meta has been trying to establish relations with the new administration. It has recently become known that the tech giant will pay Trump $25 million. The US President filed a lawsuit against the company for blocking his social media accounts after the events of January 6, 2021, when the Capitol was stormed.