Big Tech accused of shady lobbying in EU Parliament

Big Tech companies like Google, Meta and Amazon have deceived lawmakers by lobbying through smaller front organizations, leading lawmakers claimed, asking for the firms to be banned from engaging with European Union institutions.

Leading Social-democrat lawmakers Paul Tang, René Repasi and Christel Schaldemose on Thursday submitted complaints against eight companies and lobbying groups to the EU’s lobbying body, the EU transparency register, according to documents seen by POLITICO.

The MEPs asked for an investigation into Google, Facebook’s parent company Meta and Amazon, as well as large lobbying groups including tech trade association the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) and advertisers’ group IAB Europe. Three other lobbies representing small and medium-sized companies — SME Connect, Allied for Startups and Connected Commerce Council — are also targeted by the complaints.

The politicians also want representatives of the eight organizations to be blocked from entering EU institutions to meet with policymakers, lawmakers and diplomats if the watchdog finds the allegations merited.

According to the lawmakers’ complaints, the Big Tech companies deceived European lawmakers during negotiations on two landmark EU tech laws, the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and Digital Services Act (DSA), by hiding behind fronts: lobbies allegedly representing small and medium-sized companies, to which they provided funding and instructions. Meanwhile, the lobbies “pretended to be the official representatives of SMEs while at the same time promoting and defending the business interests of Big Tech,” without disclosing their connections, they added.

They said bigger groups like CCIA and IAB Europe reached out to lawmakers on behalf of ‘Targeting Startups,’ which was not registered.

“This is foul play,” said Tang, a Dutch MEP. “It violates the entirety of transparency on lobbying; you need to identify yourself, we need to know to know as MEPs or as other officials in the European Union who we deal with.”

The DMA and DSA, which were adopted this year, will, respectively, impose new requirements to limit the market power of large tech platforms, stem the spread of illegal content online and restrict targeted ads, at the core of some tech companies’ business models. In case of violations, big tech firms could face multibillion-euro fines.

The move comes after the lawmakers first complained in July to European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, who advised them to go to the EU transparency register to verify whether the EU institutions’ transparency code of conduct had been breached, according to a letter seen by POLITICO.

Tang said that while the alleged practices unfolded during past negotiations, he was worried that so-called astroturfing could continue on new tech laws, like the world’s first plan to regulate artificial intelligence, the Artificial Intelligence Act, and a regulation to crack down against child sexual abuse photos and videos online.

A POLITICO investigation previously revealed misleading influence strategies in the United States, where a lobbying group funded by Amazon and Google claimed to represent the interests of small businesses.

“Transparency and openness are important values for Google in how it engages with the EU Institutions,” said a Google spokesperson. “Our partnership with the Connected Commerce Council is clearly and transparently listed on our declaration.”

An Amazon spokesperson said the company doesn’t work with the Connected Commerce Council in Europe. “In the EU, Amazon has not asked the Connected Commerce Council to lobby on the DMA, DSA or any other European legislation,” he added.

“IAB Europe joined some of the publicly communicated actions within a ‘Targeting Startups’ coalition, but the suggestion that IAB Europe would pretend to represent anyone other than its own members is absurd,” said the spokesperson.

Allied for Startups said it represented “over 40 not-for-profit independent startup associations,” has been listed in the transparency register since 2015, and fully complies with EU lobbying rules.

Rob Retzlaff, executive director for Connected Commerce Council, said the Transparency Register contacted his lobby in March 2022. “We responded, and as of June 2, 2022, the case was closed, and our filing is accurate and to the satisfaction of the Transparency Register,” he added.

Meta, SME Connect, CCIA did not respond in time for publication.