The technology industry is betting big on lobbying the European institutions, say the NGOs Corporate Europe Observatory and Lobbycontrol in a report published on Tuesday 31 August.
Some 612 companies, groups and associations of companies were identified in the report between 2019 and 2020. They have spent some €97 million to assert their interests in the EU.
Almost a third of this expenditure - €32 million - was done by ten companies: Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, Huawei, Amazon, IBM, Intel, Vodafone and Qualcomm.
The report also reveals that almost 20% of companies lobbying the EU institutions are based in the US. Chinese companies represent less than 1% of the companies involved.
In addition to individual lobbying, companies grouped in trade and professional associations have a budget exceeding that of 75% of smaller companies in the digital industry.
This investment opens doors, as 75% of the 271 meetings held by senior European Commission officials were attended by industry lobbyists. On these occasions, representatives of the digital giants Google and Facebook were the most frequent guests.
In addition, the report highlights that 14 think tanks and NGOs have close links with companies in the technology industry. Not to mentionBig Tech funding of SMEs and startups.
In addition to funding, the involvement of experts from large technology companies in policy discussions raises questions. This is especially true at a time when the Digital Markets Act package (see EUROPE 12745/17) is on the agenda of the European legislator.
“We need more independent experts in the academic world: even for legislators it is difficult to find expert advice from academic institutions that are not funded by Big Tech”, summarises, and concludes, MEP Alexandra Geese (Greens/EFA, Germany).
See the report: https://bit.ly/3yzWEIe (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)