Facebook’s Clegg lobbied Varadkar over data rules

The former politician contacted the Tánaiste in September, days after Facebook launched a legal case against the Data Protection Commissioner

Mark Zuckerburg, chief executive, Facebook with Nick Clegg (right), after meeting politicians in Dublin about social media content regulation. Picture: PA

Leo Varadkar discussed Facebook’s issues with a European Court ruling on data laws in a phone call with Nick Clegg just days after the social media giant launched a High Court case against the Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) on a related issue.

Clegg, the former British deputy prime minister who is now Facebook’s vice-president of global affairs, has been seeking a political solution to a European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling that resulted in the ...