US tech giants are doing everything they can to weaken the enforcement of key European rules — from competition law to the DMA &the DSA. They’re doing so with the backing of the US government. The Commission needs to stand up against this and enforce its rules. In particular its competition rules.

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.

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...

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

Excessive prices, profits & market valuations should become the focus of European abuse control. My colleague Aline Blankertz - together with others - explains what has been the problem so far and how financial analysis methods can help enforce effective abuse control in EU competition policy.

The disruption at cloud provider Amazon yesterday paralysed numerous online services. It highlights the problematic dependence on the globally dominant cloud provider. We must finally reduce dependencies, systematically curb market power and create opportunities for alternatives.

We're live at the European Parliament with @mariaressa.bsky.social! With introduction remarks by @alexandrageese.bsky.social MEP, Greens/EFA, and @courtneyr.bsky.social director of @cjl4news.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZTw...

On my way to Brussels for the Future of Democracy conference hosted by @openmarkets.bsky.social and @article19europe.bsky.social. This is an important and timely event. www.openmarketsinstitute.org/publications...

Member states are increasing pressure to weaken EU's rules including the EU's chemical regulation #REACH, according to Politico. EU member states, in particular Germany, are key driver's of the EU's deregulation agenda. www.politico.eu/article/eu-l...

⚠️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

Hear! Hear!! Hear!!! “The EU anti-coercion instrument, or ‘trade bazooka’, is designed to shield against foreign pressure. It should have big tech in its crosshairs to protect European sovereignty.” www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

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?

"Wenn Schutzregeln fallen: Brüssel auf dem Weg in die Entfesselung." Gastbeitrag unserer Campaigner*innen Nina Katzemich, @flxdffy.bsky.social & @maxbank.bsky.social zum Angriff der Konzernlobby auf EU-Gesetze im Infobrief der Arbeiterkammer Wien. wien.arbeiterkammer.at/interessenve...

"Together, political predators & digital conquistadors have decided to wipe out the old elites & their rules. If they succeed, it will not only be the parties of lawyers and technocrats that will be swept away, but also liberal democracy as we have known it until today." on.ft.com/4nVwSII

The US Department of Justice and Google will face off today in federal court to argue about what remedies the court should impose to unwind Google’s monopoly in the ad tech market. Karina Montoya from the Center for Journalism & Liberty at the Open Markets Institute breaks down what’s at stake:

With our protests yesterday in Brussels, we call on the Commission to force Google to sell parts of its advertising technology business. It is time to break up the Google monopoly. www.euractiv.com/news/protest... @peoplevsbigtech.bsky.social @wemoveeurope.bsky.social @rebalance-now.bsky.social

Yesterday, we went to the EU-Commission’s headquarter in Brussels to protest for a Google break-up. Commissioner Ribera did the right thing with her adtech-decision. Now, she has to stay firm & resist pressure from inside the Commission & from the other side of the Atlantic. Time to break up Google!

👏👏 @lobbycontrol.bsky.social for today's action calling for Break Up of Big Tech, starting with Google at the EU's Headquarters.

👀Is that EU competition chief @teresaribera.ec.europa.eu taking a hammer to break up Google?? Today we're sending a loud message to @ec.europa.eu to dismantle Google's toxic advertising monopoly! #BreakUpBigTech. Great work @lobbyctrl-tech.bsky.social bsky.social @rebalance-now.bsky.social 👏👏👏

The EU has slapped Google with a record fine of €2.95 billion. For abusing its monopoly power in the online advertising market. Rightly so – but that's not enough.👇1/

Good news: Teresa Ribera, the EU Commission’s executive vice-president, defends the enforcement of EU tech rules and calls on the bloc to be “courageous” in response to threats from the US president and “to avoid the temptation of being subordinated to others’ interests”. www.ft.com/content/010c...

IYMI Looking for views on #AI & 🇪🇺 #dma How can we help development of AI by everyone and not just #gatekeepers?

After Trump's bold attack on our digital regulations DMA and DSA, the EU should use its anti-coercion to defend itself. If the US president challenges our democratic rules, he needs a clear response.

The EU must use the anti coercion instrument now, or be humiliated. Europe must be free to enforce its own law on its own soil.

Great news: Amazon must reveal its research funding to think tanks and academics: www.hbsslaw.com/press/amazon...

Very important ruling: Amazon must disclose its research funding including think tanks. This should become the standard for corporate research funding.

Hmmm, what about the EU makes Germany and Poland demand stakes in Intel next time, before they offer multibillion euro handouts for semiconductor plants that have since been canceled.

Google admits anti-competitive conduct involving Google Search in Australia www.accc.gov.au/media-releas...

MAGA Antitrust Agenda Under Siege by Lobbyists Close to Trump. www.wsj.com/us-news/law/...

KoreaStack www.cnbc.com/2025/08/08/s...

America must not defang Europe’s new tech law, by @lutherlowe.bsky.social : “Big Tech lobbyists portray the DMA as anti-American. In reality, its goals align with American ideals of fair competition. This isn’t Europe versus America; it’s open markets versus closed ones” on.ft.com/44KY6uI

As predicted, here’s a preview of how the EU-US deal will inevitably affect the ability of the EU to regulate its market: Exxon chief urges Donald Trump to use trade talks to fight ‘bone-crushing’ EU regulation on.ft.com/3U8ZIID

[email protected] reveals how US lobbyists are pushing the EU to buy more US fossil gas. Only this week the EU pledged to buy $750bn worth of US fossil fuels. The lobbyists next target? The EU Methane Regulation - the EU's strongest tool to curb LNG climate damage. www.politico.eu/article/euro...

🚨"The EU is breaking the law with this deal," says Gabriel Felbermayr, director of the Wifo research institute in Vienna in Der Spiegel. If true, the tariff deal is not only one-sided in the interests of US corporations, but also illegal. The EU-US tariff deal needs to be stopped!

If the EU & the US have conflicting interpretations of the tariff deal, then whose interpretation do you trust? Likely the one of the US that imposed the deal on the EU. The deal reflects the EU is too dependent upon the US in security & defence, otherwise it wouldn't have accepted this deal.

The EU and the US are spinning conflicting versions of the trade deal, raising new questions and sowing confusion about its content. I dive into the clash of narratives.

According to the New York Times, if the EU fulfills its pledge to buy $250 billion from American energy per year, the US will essentially become the bloc's only supplier. Here's how the jump will look in practice.

This is bold: According to the US government, the Trump-vdL deal to settle the tariff war with the EU could lead to EU food standards & digital rights being undermined by interference in our laws. All in the interests of US corporations. Not a good deal – EU-Parliament & member states must stop it!

According to Bernd Lange, chair of the International trade committee in the EU Parliament, the Trump-Von der Leyen deal won't get a majority in the Parliament after it became clear US Interpretation of the deal is it means watering down of EU digital rights and other standards.

Intransparent and primarily serving US corporate lobby interests: The trade deal between Trump and von der Leyen is not a good deal for EU citizens and EU companies.

US-EU Deal im Zollstreit auf Trumps Golfplatz in Schottland? Wir kritisieren die intransparenten Verhandlungen, die Unklarheiten und das einseitige Ergebnis im Deal zwischen dem US-Präsidenten & Kommissionspräsidentin von der Leyen scharf. Unsere Pressemitteilung: www.lobbycontrol.de/pressemittei...

Very good #DSA is enforced. Hope this counts for US companies, too. We need bold enforcement of our digital rules.

Der Deal im Handelsstreit von Trump und von der Leyen hat weitreichende Konsequenzen für unsere Wirtschaft & Gesellschaft. Der Entscheidungsprozess sollte nicht hinter verschlossenen Türen in einem Golfressort stattfinden. Statt Geheimniskrämerei brauchen wir Transparenz in der EU-Handelspolitik!

The deal between Trump and von der Leyen has far-reaching consequences for the EU's economy. Decision-making on such a deal should not take place on a golf course in Turnberry behind closed doors. EU trade policy deserves more transparency and public scrutiny.

"Tech giants Microsoft’s cloud services, Apple’s iPhones and Google’s data solutions gain tariff-free pathway, fueling digital exports growth" www.peacocktariffconsulting.com/can-the-new-...

The Trump camp have put unacceptable demands to the EU for him to cool the trade war: deregulate to please US corporations. Unfortunately, some of it fits hand in glove with the EUs own deregulation agenda. Hear me talk to my great colleagues Joana and Marcella about that in this podcast.

The fact that EU digital regulations are not mentioned in yesterday's deal between von der Leyen and Trump is no reason to sound the all-clear. On the contrary, digital rules like the DMA/DSA remain part of the bargaining chip. TIme to insist the EU should not sacrifice our laws in the trade dispute

Deal reached #EU #US #tarrifs 🇪🇺🇺🇸My first assessment:not satisfactory.This is a lopsided deal.Concessions have clearly been made that are difficult to accept. Deal with significant imbalance. Furthermore lot of questions still open.E.g. Standstillclause? More concrete numbers?

71 days since the Pfizergate ruling, the European Commission has come forward with a more detailed explanation regarding its text messages policy. (Still no reply to the NYT on the actual texts, though.) The reply says, in a nutshell,...

Our latest piece on the unprecedented deregulation wave that threatens to weaken Europe's laws and protections and makes the legislative process more susceptible to one-sided corporate lobbying. An overview in german on what it's all about - and who benefits: www.lobbycontrol.de/lobbyismus-i...