Sharp rise in lobbying expenditure: tech companies spend record amounts on lobbying in the EU
Within two years, the industry has significantly increased its spending on lobbying. And this at a critical time.
Spending by the tech industry on lobbying in the EU has risen significantly over the past two years, reaching a new high. According to a study, the industry now spends €151 million annually on EU lobbying. This represents an increase of 33.6 per cent since 2023, according to the NGOs Lobbycontrol and Corporate Europe Observatory, which conducted the survey.
The two organisations have calculated lobbying expenditure for the third time, at two-year intervals. In 2001, expenditure stood at €97 million. The source for the study is the European Transparency Register. However, companies do not provide exact figures there, but rather in increments. The NGOs have therefore opted for a conservative calculation, using the lowest value of each range. Only in the lowest range of €0 to €10,000 was the midpoint, i.e. €5,000, included in the calculation.
Meta tops the list with annual spending of €10 million on EU lobbying. A total of 10 corporations are responsible for around one third of the total expenditure. Microsoft, Apple and Amazon came in second place with a sum of 7 million euros each. ‘Our analysis shows that Big Tech is investing record sums to water down European digital rules – just when these rules are more important than ever,’ criticises Felix Duffy of Lobbycontrol.
The industry now employs more lobbyists than there are members of the European Parliament: the equivalent of 890 full-time staff lobby on behalf of the tech industry. There are 720 members of the European Parliament. ‘This systematic lobbying undermines democratic digital policy,’ criticises Duffy. Instead of weakening digital rules, the EU must implement them consistently.
EU opens the door to Big Tech
In fact, the opposite is happening. The EU has introduced major digital legislation, such as the Digital Services Act, which aims to improve the fight against illegal content on platforms, the EU Regulation on Artificial Intelligence, and the Digital Markets Act, which aims to limit the market power of large corporations. Recently, however, the focus has been primarily on deregulation. In September, the European Commission announced its intention to ‘simplify’ digital regulations.
‘We must facilitate business activity in Europe without compromising our high standards for fairness and security on the internet,’ said Henna Virkkunen, EU Vice-President for Technological Sovereignty, Security and Democracy. At the same time, US President Trump is trying to exert pressure to weaken the rules – threatening further tariffs if his demands are not met.
Bram Vranken of Corporate Europe Observatory takes a critical view of these developments: ‘Ursula von der Leyen's deregulation agenda opens the floodgates to Big Tech – and jeopardises years of progress in regulating harmful AI systems, protecting data privacy and curbing the monopoly power of Big Tech.’ Politicians should not bow to powerful corporate interests, he said.
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)