Facebook’s new head of EU Affairs comes from the EPSC

Facebook appointed Aura Salla as the new public policy director and the head of EU affairs in Brussels. Salla took up her new position in mid-May, and is now leading the Brussels policy team’s work with EU institutions for both Facebook and its family of apps and services, i.e., WhatsApp, Instagram, and Oculus. Salla’s new position raised some questions regarding conflict of interests, as until February 2020 she worked as policy advisor on hybrid warfare, cybersecurity, and disinformation for the European Political Strategy Centre (EPSC), an in-house think tank of the European Commission (EC). The EC is set to investigate her new appointment according to the EU staff regulation. The new Facebook lobbyist is also ‘well-connected’ within the European People’s Party (EPP), as she chairs the Finnish Kokoomus party council.