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Netflix's top European lobbyist, Dean Garfield. Photo by Bloomberg

How Netflix Scaled Back U.S. Lobbying to Focus on Europe

By and  |  May 7, 2019 7:01 AM PDT
Photo: Netflix's top European lobbyist, Dean Garfield. Photo by Bloomberg

In the past 18 months, Netflix lobbyists have met at least 11 times with EU commissioners and high level staffers on issues ranging from copyright, privacy rules and other digital regulations, public records show. During the same period, in contrast, Netflix’s U.S. lobbyists didn’t once visit the Federal Communications Commission.

That’s a marked change from just a few years ago when Netflix led the tech industry’s battle to win FCC “net neutrality” regulations stopping internet providers from favoring traffic from one company over another. Meanwhile, until last year, Netflix representatives typically met just once a year with European officials. But Netflix’s priorities have shifted. It won the net neutrality battle, at least for its own business. And now, its growth is increasingly driven by Europe and Asia, making regulatory issues in those countries more important to deal with.

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