Incredible- Meta projected 10% of its 2024 revenue would come from ads for scams and banned goods, documents seen by Reuters show. And the social media giant internally estimates that its platforms show users 15 billion scam ads a day."

YouTube zwicht voor Amerikaanse druk. Met het verwijderen van de accounts van drie prominente Palestijnse mensenrechtenorganisaties draagt het bedrijf bij aan het monddood maken van Palestijnen. rightsforum.org/youtube-verw...

We have found unreasonable that @ec.europa.eu applied a general presumption of non-disclosure to a risk assessment report drawn up by the social media platform X under the Digital Services Act #DSA. 🧵 1/3

Internal documents, obtained by @politico.eu, show just how far the EU Commission is willing to go to please Big Tech oligarchs 🙇 In a trip to the US in May, commissioner Virkkunen promised the CEOs of Apple, Google, Meta and others to weaken the AI Act and 'simplify' EU rules.

I spent a really long time amassing everything you need to know about Labour's vast deals with fossil gas-loving, Trump-donating AI giants out to pepper the world with climate-wrecking data centres...so you don't have to! My reporting for @desmog.com 📖👇

«Silicon Valley isn’t building apps anymore. It’s building empires.» The Authoritarian Stack: A mapping of firms, funds, and political actors turning core state functions into private platforms, by @francescabria.bsky.social et. al. for @fesonline.bsky.social www.authoritarian-stack.info

How Google won friends and influenced people - while slowly gobbling up a quarter of all ad revenue on the internet. Here's my look at two decades of Google’s ruthless tactics to secure its dominance. www.ftm.eu/articles/goo...

I remember when the CSO/Big Tech gap was huge in 2014 when I started working on digital rights in Brussels. The gap is just exploding now. Thankfully, many CSOs started working on digital since then and there is a growing opposition to Big Tech domination and the de-regulatory agenda.

Tech companies spend more on lobbying in Brussels, according to a new report. Spending increased to €151 million, compared to €113 million in 2023.

New @lobbycontrol.bsky.social @corporateeurope.org data highlights tech lobbyists' tightening grip on EU policymaking: 📈 Total lobbying spend up by a third in 2 years 💼 There are now more tech lobbyists than MEPs 🗣️ Big Tech meets EU officials every single day corporateeurope.org/en/2025/10/b...

"There are more tech lobbyists than MEPs." Live from Brussels: (It's a good study. Check it out.)

🚨New polling across 🇮🇪, 🇬🇧, 🇪🇸, 🇨🇭, 🇩🇪 finds: 👉 76% of people believe new data centres should be powered with renewable energy. 👉73% want governments to set clear criteria for energy distribution. Renewables, transparency, & fairness are key for data centres. More: beyondfossilfuels.org/2025/10/27/e...

🇪🇺 mini-scoop! 🇪🇺 The EU's watchdog is probing whether the European Commission acted secretively in its dealings with industry before launching a series of business-friendly initiatives www.politico.eu/article/ombu...

Tech firms are spending more than ever on lobbying the European Union amid mounting opposition to the bloc’s digital rules, according to new analysis.

The blunt truth about #CCS via @ketanjoshi.co "There is not a single climate solution that displays this same incredible mix of total, persistent failure blended with total immunity to any consequences to this failure" Now used to justify gas-fuelled data centres www.crikey.com.au/2025/10/27/g...

Big Tech is spending more money than ever in lobbying both in Washington and in Brussels. This isn't just putting essential legislation at stake, this is a threat to democracy. Time to kick Big Tech out of policy-making.

EU-Digitalgesetze wie der Digital Services Act sollen Big Tech in Schach halten. Das macht Meta, Microsoft & Co. das Leben schwer. Mit einer mächtigen Lobby arbeiten sie dagegen. Das zeigt eine gemeinsame Analyse von @lobbycontrol.bsky.social und @corporateeurope.org netzpolitik.org/2025/gegen-r...

Big Tech lobby budgets hit record levels: market power and lobby power go hand in hand, as tech monopolies defend their business models.

Tech companies now spend €151m a year on lobbying in Brussels — a 33-percent increase on 2023. With the backing of the US government, they hope to push the EU Commission while it's looking towards simplifying its digital regulations.

📢 As the EU's deregulation agenda rolls out the red carpet for corporate interests, our new study shows that the tech industry has ramped up its lobby power: 💰 Lobby spending hits a record €151 million 🕴 Almost 900 tech lobbyists 🤝 Big Tech has lobby 3 meetings a day @lobbycontrol.bsky.social

Taking vocabulary directly from oil and gas messaging, Google calls point-source carbon capture at methane gas plants “clean, affordable, [and] reliable.” But CCS at methane gas (or coal) power plants has never been any of those things.

We filled a complaint against Ireland to the European Commission today. Ireland has appointed an ex-Meta lobbyist as its new Data Protection Commissioner. This will be interpreted by the tech industry as a signal of impunity. The European Commission must intervene. www.iccl.ie/digital-data...

📢 From Zagreb to Bucharest to Brussels, unions are raising their voices! 📍 Croatia: 1% isn’t enough - unions reject wage offer 📍 Belgium: 3-day strike called in November 📍 Romania: National protest vs austerity on 29 Oct 📰 Catch up on the Collective Bargaining action: www.epsu.org/epsucob/octo...

The European Commission’s 2026 work programme, launched earlier this week, is the most deregulatory in EU history 🚨 Out of 47 planned initiatives, 25 are focused on “simplification” – a euphemism for #deregulation ⚠️ Read more on Deregulation Watch: corporateeurope.org/en/deregulation-watch

Only a few weeks ago the @ombudsman.europa.eu opened an inquiry into AI standard-setting - a highly opaque process dominated by Big Tech. Now experts are in open revolt after CEN-CENELEC centralized decision-making, further side-lining civil society. 👉 corporateeurope.org/en/2025/01/b...

Yet again, we can't afford to let LLMs become a source of epistemic grounding for society.

👏important read "These are not normal times. [...] Civil society organizations, think tanks, and educational institutions that take money from Silicon Valley should stop, and should explain why they are doing so publicly." www.techpolicy.press/techs-love-a...

Since the United States election in November 2024, the technology industry has distinguished itself in the race to capitulate to and enable the Trump administration, writes Paul Barrett. No gesture of obsequiousness or loyalty has been too great or trivial for the moguls of Silicon Valley, he says.

Jep, Werkzaamheidsgraad hoger dan ooit. Maar zet geen zoden aan de dijk als je overal putten graaft

Civil society is outraged by Ireland data protection agency — the key one in the EU — picking a former Meta lobbyist as its new commissioner.

🇪🇺 Europe is being bullied by US investors backed by a hostile administration. From Big Tech to critical infrastructure, Trump-linked investors are reshaping Europe’s economy and policy to America’s advantage. So why is Europe letting this happen? Read SOMO's latest piece👉 bit.ly/3Jbic9C #FDI #EU

Emma Jones and Isabel Sunderland from Issue One say Big Tech firms have adopted the standard tactics of tobacco, oil, and pharmaceutical giants to stave off regulation.

EU data laws are to become more business-friendly after 19 November, when the EU Commission unveils its "digital omnibus", amid privacy and security concerns.

Time to stand up to the chemical industry lobbies!

The minutes from meetings with corporate lobbyists on #deregulation that the EU Commission publishes on its website are often ultra brief, lacking real substance We've submitted a complaint to the European Ombudsman concerning the #secrecy around these meetings ➡️ corporateeurope.org/en/deregulat...

This week, a historic 140,000 workers from across all of Belgium protested the government's cuts to pensions, salaries and the welfare state.

The insatiable demands of the military industrial complex are a barrier to human flourishing on a livable planet.

What an unsurprising decision by corporations that desperately need to make money with AI. If every other company with a chatbot isn't already doing this, then expect them to be following Meta's lead soon. The chatbot is not your friend; it's a corporate listening device. www.ft.com/content/22f7...

OpenAI *really* isn't hiding its intention to power the AI boom with fossil fuels. New from me @desmog.com www.desmog.com/2025/10/13/o...

The European Commission launched a new AI strategy last week. But it barely mentioned the huge amount of energy gobbled up by AI, and the devastating environmental fallout. Find this in our latest newsletter: www.ftm.eu/newsletters/...

⚠️For years, the Big Tech front group Allied for Startups has been underreporting its lobby budget. 👏 Following a complaint by CEO and @lobbycontrol.bsky.social, Allied for Startups has now been forced by the EU Transparency Register to correct its registration. 👉 corporateeurope.org/en/media/6430

This week #DeregulationWatch reports on the powerful intervention by UN Special Rapporteur on toxics & human rights Marcos Orellana criticising the EU's Chemicals omnibus saying “there is no compelling justification” for the proposed measures. #Deregulation corporateeurope.org/en/deregulat...

[ENQUETE] Plus discret que Musk, le patron d’Oracle Larry Ellison est en train de bâtir un empire médiatique qui inclura peut-être bientôt TikTok et CNN Une force de frappe qu’il pourrait mettre au service de ses amis Trump, Blair et Netanyahu ➡️ multinationales.org/fr/enquetes/... #FAF40

Big piece in POLITICO asking about the independence of Ireland's process of appointing people to its Data Protection Commission. There is deep unease in Brussels about Ireland appointing a former Meta lobbyist as Meta's watchdog. Now questions about who was involved. www.politico.eu/article/big-...

Shocking: In Berlin, SPD accepts social cuts in coalition with CDU, in Brussels S&D agrees to weaken corporate sustainability rules. Conservatives blackmail S&D with threat do vote with the far right. How about saving democracy by challenging corporate monopoly power & tackling inequality instead?

Where do startup policies come from? Probably not from startups. Most can hardly afford to keep the lights on, so how do they afford to lobby for changing national policy? Answer: Big Tech’s money 3/n

Out now in Competition & Change @compchange.bsky.social “Dependent development in digital capitalism: The politics of startup policies in the new periphery” @journals.sagepub.com #polisky journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1... 1/n

Over 2 million people across Italy have rallied in more than 100 cities for a one-day general strike.

BREAKING: Over a thousand people gather in Trafalgar Square to oppose genocide and the Palestine Action ban. Police have already started arresting peaceful protestors under the Terrorism Act for silently holding signs which say "I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action"

The mask is OFF 🎭 ! EU Commission President @vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu admits that "simplification" actually means "deregulation" (surprise surprise - we've been saying this for a long time). From her speech yesterday at the Copenhagen Competitiveness Summit ec.europa.eu/commission/p...