ICANN CEO Tells Senators He Didn't Violate Conflict of Interest Rules With China Forum

ICANN CEO Fadi Chehadé framed his involvement with the Chinese government-led World Internet Conference (WIC) as “a natural continuation of ICANN's work” to promote multistakeholder Internet governance. The explanation came in a letter Friday responding to questions from GOP presidential hopeful Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and other senators. Cruz and Sens. James Lankford, R-Okla., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, raised concerns in early February about Chehadé's decision to become co-chairman of a high-level advisory committee to WIC after his planned mid-March departure from ICANN (see 1602040061).

Chehadé said he's in compliance with ICANN's conflict of interest policy and hasn't “received any form of gift, reimbursement, compensation, or any other form of personal enrichment, direct or indirect, for this post-ICANN effort,” although his travel expenses related to WIC events will be covered. Cruz and the other senators said their concerns include whether Chehadé's involvement in WIC is a conflict of interest given his role as ICANN CEO. Chehadé's responses to Cruz's letter may not be enough to end congressional scrutiny of his activities and may factor into any upcoming congressional hearings on the status of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, ICANN stakeholders said in interviews. No such meetings are currently scheduled. An industry lobbyist noted stakeholder speculation that one may occur after ICANN’s March 5-10 meeting in Marrakech, Morocco.

Cruz is unlikely to find Chehadé's response “satisfactory, since [Cruz] is looking for more evidence that ICANN’s board is holding its CEO accountable for any possible conflicts of interest,” NetChoice CEO Steve DelBianco said in an interview. Chehadé may have avoided violating the letter of ICANN’s conflict of interest rules, but “the one thing you don’t do is try to play legal fire” with Cruz, said Shane Tews, visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute’s Center for Internet, Communications and Technology Policy. “I know the [ICANN] board felt really burnt by [Chehadé] not clearing [the WIC advisory committee appointment] ahead of time.” Cruz’s office didn’t comment.

Chehadé previously questioned Cruz's motives for opening the inquiry, during a meeting in Los Angeles earlier this month with the Non-Connected Party House's (NCPH) Commercial Stakeholder Group, a participant in that meeting said. “Everyone knows [Cruz's letter] is political, even those in his own party,” Chehadé said, according to notes the meeting participant took. Many members of the NCPH had “very substantive concerns” about how Chehadé's decision to take a role in the WIC advisory committee would affect Congress' oversight of the IANA transition, so it was “somewhat disconcerting to see [Chehadé] taking the position that concerns” about the WIC committee “are politically motivated,” the meeting participant said.

ICANN board member Markus Kummer told NCPH members during a separate meeting in early February that Chehadé's future role in the WIC advisory committee was a topic of “somewhat heated discussion” among members of the ICANN board, a participant said. “The view eventually prevailed that no reactive action should be taken lest China lose face.” The ICANN board wants to engage more with China and India following the IANA transition, which somewhat explains the board's decision not to take action against Chehadé, the meeting participant said. Still, many NCPH members “found that a very questionable rationale that lacked sufficient concern” about how Chehadé's future role in WIC could affect ICANN and the IANA transition, the meeting participant said. Chehadé pledged during his meeting with the CSG of NCPH to “'continue to be an ambassador for the multistakeholder model, including in China,'” the meeting participant wrote in notes.

Chehadé told the senators he will be involved in WIC “to continue to advocate for global multistakeholder governance and a single, open, and interoperable Internet.” Chehadé also attended the 2014 and 2015 WIC summits in Wuzhen, China, in his role as ICANN CEO, but his attendance at those meetings “does not represent an endorsement of every viewpoint expressed at that conference,” Chehadé said. Cruz and the other senators said they were concerned about WIC's perceived hostility to multistakeholderism, including the membership of government representatives from the League of Arab States, Iran and Russia on the WIC advisory committee.

“Staying away from [WIC], particularly to make a political statement on issues outside of ICANN's mission, would not have served the global Internet community,” Chehadé said: ICANN “cannot ignore potential challenges to the values of multistakeholderism and to ICANN’s mission.” ICANN's involvement in conferences like WIC “should not be in any way used to distract us from the commitment the U.S. Government has made to the world since 2000 to remove the central role of governments from the technical administration of the one global Internet,” Chehadé said. “Failure to deliver on this commitment in 2016 would have grave repercussions on the U.S. and global economies and will undermine multistakeholder governance, potentially leading to the fragmentation of the Internet.”