Facebook beefs up lobbying squad

Facebook Inc. is increasing its government relations presence in Ottawa, with three new registrations filed with the lobbying commissioner’s office last month. According to the federal lobbyists’ registry, the social media giant has contracted the services of U.K.-based consulting firm AA Access Partnership Ltd., bringing the number of consultants registered to lobby on behalf of Facebook to nine. Each of the three new consultants is registered to communicate with the House of Commons, Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada about infrastructure, science and technology and telecommunications, according to the registry. The focus of these new registrations is “Canadian international telecommunications policy as it pertains to global broadband connectivity options,” according to the online registry. When it comes to international telecom policy, ISED’s website says its responsible directorate “negotiates multilateral and bilateral government-to-government treaty-binding agreements for Canada, pertaining in particular to the International Telecommunication Union” and it “also coordinates and develops Canadian policies on Internet governance and ensures that Canada's views and interests are put forward in the development of global and domestic Internet policy, particularly those associated with the Internet's Domain Name System.” Facebook runs Free Basics, an application available through its Internet.org project that allows users access to pre-submitted Internet content for free in developing countries. In response to a question about whether these new consultants would be advocating for Canadian support of Free Basics, a Facebook spokesperson said in an email that the “global Facebook public policy team, working in dozens of offices around the world, is responsible for monitoring, analyzing and engaging on relevant policy issues throughout the world. We sometimes hire outside consultants to help us with this work.” The company’s six other active registrations in the lobbyists’ registry are all through Ottawa-based firm Crestview Strategy Inc. Crestview consultants are communicating about the “Privacy Act and its rules and regulations concerning privacy of internet and social media users/consumers,” the country’s anti-spam legislation passed in 2010 “as it pertains to the requirements of the anti spam legislation for social media and internet,” and to “work with parliamentarians and government officials to promote and facilitate the use of Facebook products and services, and engage on Internet-related issues.” In February, broadcasting was the subject of 51 monthly communication reports, putting it 28th on the list of lobbied subjects for the month. The 51 reports are down 17.7 per cent from January, while telecommunications was up 58.3 per cent compared to the previous month, noted in 38 monthly communication reports. Amazon.com Inc. filed 14 communication reports in February (seven in-house and seven through consultants), raising discussion on industry, government procurement and arts and culture with officials from departments such as Canada Border Services Agency, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Canada Revenue Agency and Public Safety Canada. Xplornet Communications Inc. filed seven reports for communication with members of Parliament, Corus Entertainment Inc. filed six reports, including with Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly and NDP heritage critic Pierre Nantel, Telus Corp. filed five reports and Shaw Communications Inc. filed four reports. Treasury Board president Scott Brison was targeted by Rogers Communications Inc. in one of its three reports, while the Canadian Wireless Telecommunication Association reached out to CRTC vice-chairman Peter Menzies and Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains. BCE Inc. made one point of contact in February with Finance Minister Bill Morneau. Out of the six communication reports involving Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for the month of February, two of them came from the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, both reported for Feb. 22. Both Friends’ spokesman Ian Morrison and consultant Jim Thompson’s registrations note their focus on “broadcasting policy: regulation, funding, licensing, Canadian programming, media concentration and restrictions of foreign ownership” while Morrison is also registered to communicate on a “possible amendment to Section 19 of the Income Tax Act respecting the deductibility of digital advertising on non-Canadian platforms.” — With reporting by Charelle Evelyn at cevelyn@thewirereport.ca and editing by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca

Facebook beefs up lobbying squad

Broadcast | March 21, 2017

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Facebook beefs up lobbying squad

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