Google, Facebook, Microsoft top EU lobbying spending

Alphabet’s Google unit, Facebook, and Microsoft are the three biggest lobbying spenders in Europe in a battle against tough new laws aimed at curbing US tech giants’ powers, a study released on Tuesday showed.

Such efforts should be a wake-up call to EU policymakers to beef up the draft laws and lobbying rules, the study by campaign groups Corporate Europe Observatory and Lobbycontrol warned.

The tech sector outspends even the pharma, fossil fuels, finance and chemicals sectors, which used to dominate lobbying, the report said.

“The rising lobby firepower of big tech and the digital industry as a whole mirrors the sectors’ huge and growing role in society,” the study said.

“It is remarkable and should be a cause of concern that the platforms can use this firepower to ensure their voices are heard — over countervailing and critical voices — in the debate over how to construct new rules for digital platforms.” The study found that 612 firms, groups and associations spend more than ^97 million ($114 million) annually lobbying on EU digital economy policies. Google topped spending at ^5.75 million, followed by Facebook at ^5.5 million, Microsoft at ^5.25 million, Apple at ^3.5 million, Huawei at ^3 million and Amazon.com at ^2.75 million.