Another “fine” story about what is known as the Big Tech-Big Government revolving door is coming from the UK, where a former Facebook vice president has just joined the Ofcom (Office of Communications) regulator.
Handpicked by Secretary of State for Science, Innovation, and Technology (DSIT) Peter Kyle, Lord Richard Allan – previously Facebook vice president of public policy, or, as some reports put it, “Facebook lobbyist in the EU” – is now a member of the Ofcom Board as a non-executive director.
The most obvious problem: Ofcom is supposed to regulate Facebook as well as the rest of the industry, and now the question of a possible conflict of interest is arising. After all, Allan spent a full decade as Facebook’s vice president. And coming up with a “strategic direction” for Ofcom is among the regulator’s Board’s tasks.
But DSIT reassured the public that in picking Allan for the role, “an open process in line with the Governance Code on Appointments” had been observed.
One example of how these figures go through that revolving door, but in the other direction, is former UK Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, who is now Facebook owner Meta’s president of global affairs.
The “ties that bind” in this particular case happen to be even more specific: Allan was, all the way up to October 2 this year, “affiliated” with the UK’s Liberal Democrats (he in the past also served as an MP for the party). And Clegg was the leader of that party before he embarked on his Big Tech adventures.
Back to Allan’s Ofcom appointment, and in explaining the choice, DSIT described him as a member of the House of Lords for the past 10 years – and someone who has worked on “communications and technology policy” for close to 30 years.
Ofcom Chair Lord Michael Grade issued a statement upon hiring Allan to put an emphasis on what he said was the former Facebook exec’s extensive experience “across technology, telecoms, and media,” with a career in both public and private sectors.
Allan in the past worked for UK’s National Health Service (NHS), to serve as MP, move on to Cisco, and then to Facebook.
