Lobbying spending is concentrated in the hands of tech giants, mainly from the U.S., according to the analysis by Corporate Europe Observatory and LobbyControl, two non-profit campaign groups focused on corporate influence.
The ten largest technology spenders — which include Meta, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Qualcomm and Google — outspent the top ten firms in pharmaceuticals, finance and the automotive industries combined.
Amazon, Microsoft and Meta have “noticeably” ramped up their expenditure since 2023, by more than €4 million for Amazon and €2 million for Microsoft and Meta, the analysis said. The Brussels-based lobby group Digital Europe, which includes many U.S.-based tech giants among its members, added more than €1 million to its lobbying budget.
Meta, with a budget of more than €10 million, is the overall largest lobby spender in the EU.
This is a “precarious moment,” said Bram Vranken, a researcher at Corporate Observatory Europe, arguing that years of progress in limiting the harmful effects of technology and the power of Big Tech risks being reversed.
With the deregulation push in Brussels and strong industry support in Washington, “Big Tech is seizing this new political reality to erase a decade of progress to regulate the digital sector,” he said.