On Thursday 2 February, the NGOs Corporate Europe Observatory and LobbyControl, supported by MEPs from S&D, Renew Europe, Greens/EFA and The Left, launched the website lobbyleaks.eu. This should be used to gather information on the dubious practices of GAMAM (Google, Apple, Meta (ex-Facebook), Amazon and Microsoft) lobbyists.
“Today, as the EU tries to rein in the most problematic aspects of Big Tech, from disinformation and unfair competition practices to targeted advertising, the digital giants are lobbying hard in an often opaque and misleading manner. We do not tolerate shady lobbying in the European institutions”, the two NGOs write on the website.
The platform will be intended for MEPs, their teams and Parliament employees. They will be able to “anonymously” report any information in an “untraceable” way when they witness or are victims of shady lobbying.
The two NGOs illustrate their point by giving several examples of situations that can be qualified as shady lobbying, such as when a lobbyist does not disclose the name of their employer or client when contacting a European Parliament member or employee, social media messages where it is unclear that you are in contact with a lobbyist, or in cases of targeted advertisements disseminated to influence you.
Visit the website: https://aeur.eu/f/580 (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)