French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed Zuckerberg and the leaders of Microsoft, Uber, IBM and dozens of other tech bosses at a conference Wednesday aimed at persuading them to use their global influence for the public good — things like protecting workers' rights and privacy.
PARIS (AP) — Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg may finally find a friendly face when he meets French President Emmanuel Macron. Or not.
Macron welcomed Zuckerberg and the leaders of Microsoft, Uber, IBM and dozens of other tech bosses at a conference Wednesday aimed at persuading them to use their global influence for the public good — things like protecting workers' rights and privacy and investing in tech literacy for the masses.
"There is no free lunch!" Macron joked to express his expectations of "frank and direct" discussions.
Zuckerberg came to Paris after facing tough questions Tuesday from European Union lawmakers in Brussels, where he apologized for the way the social network has been used to produce fake news and interfere in elections. But the Facebook founder also frustrated the lawmakers as the testimony's setup allowed him to respond to a list of questions as he sought fit.
Macron sees himself as uniquely placed to both understand and influence the tech world. France's youngest president, Macron has championed startups and aggressively wooed technology investors.
But Macron is also one of Europe's most vocal critics of tax schemes used by companies like Facebook that deprive governments of billions of euros a year in potential revenue. And Macron has defended an aggressive new European data protection law that comes into effect this week. The so-called GDPR regulation will give Europeans more control over what companies can do with what they post, search and click.
Aides to Macron acknowledged companies like Facebook have become more influential than governments. The aides insisted that Macron isn't trying to kiss up to such companies or let them whitewash their reputations through philanthropic gifts, but wants a "frank" discussion.