This is how much the lobbies of Google, Facebook, Microsoft and not only in Europe spend
How much do the lobbies of big tech groups like Google, Facebook and Microsoft spend on their convincing works in Europe? The in-depth analysis of Policy Maker
From the days when Mario Monti sat at the European Commission and imposed maxi 'fines' on Microsoft and Nintendo, there has never been good blood between the Club of the Old Continent and the tech giants. Probably because the technological companies are almost always of foreign origin (in the beginning American, now Chinese realities are also advancing) and the European Union has therefore played in the role of defense, of the consumer, rather than as a protagonist. To oil the mechanisms, the giants of the Web – and not only – exert pressure: Brussels strictly regulates lobbying and does not fail to make public the meetings between the representatives of institutions and private companies. But how much do these realities spend on their work of convincing?
The question is answered by the report "The Lobby Network – Big tech's web of influence in the Eu", edited by the Corporate Europe Observatory and Lobbycontrol, which Policy Maker readers can easily download here . The study reveals quite interesting data. According to the census, in fact, there are 612 companies, interest groups and business associations that exert pressure on the policies of the digital economy of the EU, for a total annual expenditure of over 97 million euros with the aim of being decisive in what is decided in the community button room. "This makes technology the largest lobbying sector in the EU ahead of pharmaceuticals, fossil fuels, finance and chemicals," the report reads.
But these are not the only conclusions drawn by the study's curators. "For the first time – we read -, we are mapping the universe of actors who exert pressure on the digital economy of the EU, from the giants of Silicon Valley to the contenders in Shenzhen, from companies created online to those that build the infrastructure that makes work the Internet, from technology giants to newcomers ”and the conclusion is that we are facing a“ deeply unbalanced ”scenario.
According to analysts, "the power of the digital sector should be a wake-up call to put in place stricter lobbying regulation at both EU and member state levels and to ensure that new tools are created to limit the power of companies. who would otherwise use it to shape legislation according to their own interests ”.
There are indeed many companies, but those able to influence the institutions are rather few: Vodafone, Qualcomm, Intel, IBM, Amazon, Huawei, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook and Google spend more than 32 million euros to be influential in the decisions of the EU. Or at least try. 20% of the giants of the lobby are based in the United States, less than 1% have offices in China or Hong Kong. The top ten by turnover alone share a third of the total expenditure of the technology lobbies.
“The huge budgets for Big Tech's lobbies – explains the report – have a significant impact on EU policy makers: regularly digital lobbyists knock on their door. The lobbying on proposals for Digital Services package [ Regulation on digital services (DSA) and the Regulation on digital markets (DMA) Editor's note] and the EU's attempt to curb the Big Tech, provides the perfect example of how companies' huge budgets give them privileged access: high-level Commission officials held 271 meetings, 75% of which with industry lobbyists. Google and Facebook led the group ”.
(Article published on Policy Maker )
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/spesa-lobby-big-tech-europa/ on Sun, 12 Sep 2021 06:00:26 +0000.