The 23 largest tech companies spent a total of €73 million on political lobbying activities in Brussels in 2025. That is 60% more than five years ago.
Financial institutions spent €67 million, parties in the energy sector €52 million and chemicals/agri €47 million. In total, at least €382 million was spent on political influence last year.
The figures comes from a new report by Corporate Europe Observatory and LobbyControl, in which they examine what political influence from the corporate sector looks like. These are self-declared budgets in a voluntary register.
The tech company that spends the most money is Meta (more than €10 million), followed by Amazon (€9 million, the biggest climber) and Apple (€8 million). Figures for Alphabet are not reported. In 2023 it spent just under €6 million on political influence. For last year it is reported that they spent €1 million more than in 2024.
In addition, organisations such as CCIA, the Center for Data Innovation and Dot Europe play a role as conduits for the agenda of American big tech.
The report read: “It is worrying that the Digital Services Act (DSA) is also the target of a well-funded network of far-right think tanks that are becoming increasingly active in Brussels and have close ties to far-right parties in the European Parliament. These organisations, including the Heritage Foundation (the conservative think tank responsible for Project 2025), Alliance Defending Freedom, and MCC Brussels, act as an echo chamber for the Trump administration’s views on online censorship and are running an aggressive lobbying campaign on how the Digital Services Act would undermine freedom of expression.”
The aims of the lobbyists are manifold, but of course always focused on strengthening their own positions. Over the past year and a half, since the new European Commission took office, 10 processes have been set up to ease legislation. These are so-called omnibus packages. The researchers state that 40% of all cabinet meetings at the Commission in 2025 were with corporate representatives. More than ever. NGOs, by contrast, saw their share fall from 22% to 16%.
In concrete terms, the tech giants targeted, for example, the weakening of the AI Act, the GDPR and the ePrivacy Directive, scrapping the planned Digital Fairness Act against addictive design and dark patterns, as well as easing environmental permits for data centres and delaying DSA/DMA enforcement.
Europe Observatory and LobbyControl shows how the Digital Omnibus closely aligns with the main lobbying demands of Big Tech and related trade associations such as the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) and Dot Europe.” In short, the investments appear to be paying off.
“Technology companies, however, are striving for even more. In a lobbying document for the forthcoming Irish presidency, Meta, for example, argues that the Digital Omnibus falls significantly short and calls for a complete overhaul of the European digital rulebook and a pause in the implementation of the suite of digital laws.”
The US is the second largest lobbyist with €46 million. German entities spend €76 million.
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