Snap hires new director of US public policy

Snap hires a new director of U.S. public policy expanding its D.C. public policy team. Previously a Vice President of Public Policy and Government Affairs at the Internet Association (IA), a D.C. based trade association that represents the interests of major Internet companies including Snap, Facebook, Google, Amazon, LinkedIn, Microsoft and others, Gina Woodworth will head up Snap's D.C. public policy team lead by Jennifer Stout, Snap’s global head of public policy.

President and CEO of IA Michael Beckerman issued a statement on Woodworth’s departure saying: “From just 14 members at launch  to nearly 40 today, Gina has helped Internet Association grow from startup to scale and expand the scope of our reach on behalf of internet companies across the country. While I will surely miss her counsel, I and the IA team wish her best as she brings her considerable talents to Snap.”

Woodworth joined Snapchat with a vast experience in professional government relations, legislative and lobbying experience in technology policy. Prior to The IA she worked at the Entertainment Software Association as the Senior Director of Federal Government Affairs and as Staff Director on the U.S. Senate High Tech Task Force. Woodworth holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Italian Studies from Dickinson College.

According to the company's lobbying disclosure forms, Snap's policy team has been predominantly focusing on cybersecurity and on government's requests for lawful access to Snapchat user data to solve crimes such as terrorism and child pornography. Such companies as Google and Microsoft fought to protect their users' privacy finding some of the federal government's requests unreasonable: they've gone as far as suing the government over such requests.

It is reported, that Snap's other policy priorities include privacy issues, cross border data and law enforcement cooperation, and trust and safety issues. Snap previously worked with third-party lobbying firms in D.C.