Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, will not hesitate to ask for US President Trump’s intervention if the European Union unfairly targets the company with digital regulations.
At the Munich security conference, Kaplan said Meta would warn the US government of discriminatory treatment while continuing to operate within EU law, Bloomberg reported. The statement comes amid growing tensions between US tech companies and European regulators.
According to Bloomberg, META is already facing EU penalties of more than 2 billion euros.
The conflict unfolds as transatlantic relations deteriorate, with Vice President JD Vance criticizing EU social media regulations as restrictions on free speech during Munich gatherings. German Prime Minister Olaf Scholz rebuked Vance’s comments as intervention regarding the German democratic process, particularly right-wing parties.
Kaplan, who replaced Nick Clegg as the global affairs chief in January following Trump’s reelection, highlighted Meta’s commitment to fighting misinformation and acknowledged a different perspective on what constitutes misinformation. The company has introduced community notes to enable user-driven fact checking across the platform.
US President Trump has already expressed concerns about EU technology regulations, describing them as “a form of taxation” during his January appearance at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
The conflict extends to artificial intelligence regulations, indicating that meta is likely not to participate in the EU’s future AI code of conduct. Kaplan warned against measuring the success of regulating regulations on imposed fines, arguing that EU technology regulations place the economy as a “risqué weakness.”
