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EU events on curbing big tech ‘distorted’ by attenders with industry links
- More than one in five people who attended EU workshops on regulating big tech companies did not disclose links with the industry when they applied according to campaigners, who suggest hidden networks are distorting public debate.
- Transparency campaigners at three NGOs analysed almost 4,000 registrations for European Commission workshops held earlier this year to examine compliance with the Digital Markets Act (DMA).
- The NGO researchers discovered that 21% of attendees, who were employed by law firms, lobby groups, trade associations and thinktanks, had failed to refer to their links to the companies being discussed.
- The DMA, which came into force in March 2022, identified six tech giants: Google's parent Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta and Microsoft as “gatekeepers” who have to comply with EU rules to ensure fair competition.
- Large tech companies cannot treat their own products and services more favourably than competitors, or prevent uninstalling of pre-installed software.
- Researchers counted representatives from 53 lobbying and public affairs firms at the workshops. FleishmanHillard and Flint Europe were among the firms that had represented or worked for Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta and Microsoft but did not disclose this fact, according to the report.
- The NGOs turned a spotlight on the International Center for Law and Economics, a research organisation that describes itself as privately funded. The ICLE was present at the Amazon event but did not inform the attendees that it was funded by Amazon and Meta.
- Max Bank, a campaigner at LobbyControl, described the situation as a “classic David versus Goliath” struggle, adding that unless the European Union strengthens its enforcement capabilities, the promise of the DMA to limit the power of big tech could fall short.
- The report was compiled by Corporate Europe Observatory in Brussels, Germany’s LobbyControl and the Amsterdam-based NGO Somo.
- The commission employed 80 people for its DMA unit while the six tech gatekeepers and their allies had 106 employees and 282 lawyers and lobbyists.
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