UK ministers accept $1m from Meta amid social media ban consultation | Meta
Ministers’ acceptance of $1 million from US technology and social media company Meta to create artificial intelligence systems for defence, national security and transport has sparked warnings about the UK government’s “worryingly close relationship with Trump-supporting US tech giants”.
Money from Mark Zuckerberg’s company will be used to pay experts “to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence solutions to support national security and defense teams,” the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) announced on Tuesday.
Ian Murray, the government minister for data and digital, said the money would be used for four British artificial intelligence experts, coordinated by the government-funded Alan Turing Institute, to “play a key role in restructuring health, policing, transport systems and more”.
The move comes after Meta executives held 50 meetings with ministers over the past two years for which data is available, according to the Guardian’s investigation; This is one of the highest levels of direct access of any technology company.
The government is consulting on banning social media use by under-16s and this will have a major impact on Meta’s Instagram platform.
Announcing the $1 million (£728,000) deal, Meta said it was “proud to help bring British AI talent to government, accelerating the transformation of public services.”
DSIT said: “People across the UK can benefit from faster, safer and more reliable public services as leading British AI experts join government to modernize critical systems used every day, from public safety to transport maintenance.”
But tech justice campaign group Foxglove asked: “What is Meta buying with its million dollars?” He added: “There is no such thing as a free lunch when it comes to big tech.”
“This is further evidence of the UK government’s worryingly close relationship with US tech giants who support Trump,” said Donald Campbell, director of advocacy at Foxglove. “It is extremely worrying that ministers are still gullible enough to swallow this kind of lobbying from a handful of Silicon Valley plutocrats who have proven beyond any doubt that they do not have the best interests of the British people in mind.”
Daisy Greenwell, co-founder of the Smartphone-Free Childhood campaign, said the deal “underlines a disturbing truth: tech giants spend huge sums to gain access and influence in policymaking.”
“This makes it even more important that decisions about children and online safety are shaped by independent evidence and the public interest, not by companies whose products are being reviewed,” he said.
The government has also announced a new partnership with San Francisco AI company Anthropic, which will create and pilot a dedicated utility tool for public services on gov.uk, starting with a model that will give career advice to job seekers and “help lock down a job”. Anthropic said the project implementation effort was “unprofitable.”
DSIT said the technology is “part of a cutting-edge plan to use AI agents for national government services, with piloting expected to begin later this year.” In October, Anthropic announced that former chancellor Rishi Sunak had taken on an advisory role in the $350 billion venture. Former Downing Street chief of staff Liam Booth-Smith is Anthropic’s policy and communications adviser.
The deals come as ministers grapple with policy decisions that directly impact Meta and Anthropic. As well as launching a consultation last week on banning social media use for under-16s, they will also set out reforms on how to protect creators’ copyrighted works from being mined to create artificial intelligence models such as those made by Anthropic.
Beeban Kidron, a diverse peer who campaigns on child protection and copyright, said: “This government is becoming dependent on Silicon Valley, undermining the chances of building an AI industry in the UK and, above all, busy handing over some of the most valuable datasets in the world to Silicon Valley who can afford to pay.”
Meta-funded AI experts will be tasked with using AI to develop models that analyze images and video, enabling councils to prioritize transport infrastructure repairs more effectively. The government said it will also “develop cutting-edge AI solutions that work offline or within secure networks to support national security and defense teams in making vital decisions while protecting sensitive data.”
