Former Facebook Lobbyist Joins UK Comms Regulator As Non-exec Director

Updated A former Vice President of Public Policy for Facebook is among the new faces to join the board at Britain's telecoms regulator, Ofcom.

Lord Richard Allan was selected by Peter Kyle, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology to become non-executive director for a four-year period on November 1, the Department confirmed this week.

Allan will be joined by Tamara Ingram, OBE, currently a non-executive director of Marks and Spencer Group and Chairman of the health charity Asthma + Lung UK, who will serve as Deputy Chair.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) says in its announcement that Allan has "nearly 30 years of experience in communications and technology policy," and has been a member of the House of Lords since 2010.

Although Allan was originally affiliated with the Liberal Democrats, DSIT says he has been "non-affiliated" since October 2 – presumably a requirement of taking up the post.

Allan begun his career with the NHS as a Systems Developer, but after a stint as a Liberal Democrat MP, he joined Cisco as Director of Public Policy, then served at Facebook for ten years as VP of Public Policy in the period before Meta was formed as a new parent company for the social media platform.

According to his Wikipedia entry, Allan was responsible for representing the company and lobbying EU governments. He also "often fronted awkward inquiries on behalf of the company's executives," according to Buzzfeed News.

In this, he seems to have pre-empted the former leader of the Lib Dems, the wildly unpopular Sir Nick Clegg, who became Vice President of Global Affairs and Communications for Facebook in 2018.

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While several years have elapsed since Allan last worked for Facebook, we're not sure we are entirely comfortable with a former lobbyist for Zuckerberg's panoptic platform sitting on the board of directors of the organization responsible for overseeing telecoms and media in the UK.

As Ofcom itself said in a statement, the Board "provides strategic direction to Ofcom and its executive, which runs the organisation and answers to the Board."

The Reg asked both DSIT and Ofcom if they were at all concerned about any potential conflict of interest in this appointment. An Ofcom spokesperson told us: "Industry experience is vital to strong regulation and our Board is made up of experts from a range of commercial, media, telecoms and tech backgrounds."

In a statement accompanying the appointment, Ofcom Chair Lord Grade said: "Richard brings extensive experience across technology, telecoms and media, from a decades-long career both in public life and the private sector. His contribution to the Board will be invaluable and I look forward to working with him."

However, it could also be seen as another example of the revolving door between industry and regulatory bodies that appears to be the norm in Britain, with poachers becoming gamekeepers, and vice versa.

According to Ofcom, Allan currently holds non-executive board roles at New Automotive – which we assume is the transport research body rather than a Sutton Coldfield used car dealership of the same name – and advocacy organization the Centre for Public Data, so being on the Ofcom board clearly isn't expected to take up too much of his time. Non-executive directors receive £42,519 ($55,194) per annum in compensation, Ofcom states. ®

A DSIT spokesperson said of appointment of Allan, who was made a baron and a life peer – giving him a seat in the House of Lords, the upper house of UK Parliament – in the 2010 Dissolution Honours, "This appointment was made following an open process in line with the Governance Code on Appointments."