Big Tech out-lobbies European companies in Brussels

US Big Tech has outsized influence in Brussels, spending more and meeting EU policymakers more often than European companies, according to an FT analysis of the EU transparency register and Commission/Parliament meeting databases since the June 2024 elections. Google (302 meetings) tops any single European business; Apple 257 and Amazon 239 — only TotalEnergies, Volkswagen and Airbus appear among the top-20 meeting organisations. Spend: Apple ~€9mn/year and Meta >€10mn on EU lobbying, vs up to €8.7mn for Total, VW and Airbus combined. Google alone held 22 meetings on the digital omnibus that waters down AI rules (e.g. more leeway training models on personal data); Google/Amazon/Apple also discussed proposed cloud regulation and children’s online-safety rules. Context: American firms push back against the bloc’s digital rules amid Trump tariff threats over Europe’s “tech sovereignty” drive. Transparency International’s Raphaël Kergueno: policymakers “seem to be giving more access to US companies rather than to European ones.” Counterweights the same analysis surfaces: green NGOs are the most active lobbyists overall (WWF 431, T&E 410 meetings) — ahead of AmCham (396) and China’s government (359) — yet have largely failed to stop the EU weakening parts of its green agenda, and mostly met sympathetic Green/left MEPs who are a minority. US businesses met across the political spectrum; AmCham had ≥22 meetings this year on “omnibus” laws easing pesticide/environmental rules. AmCham’s Malte Lohan and BusinessEurope both frame easing burdens as a European industrial imperative, not just an American goal. Broader mix: >63% of registered-org meetings were with companies/trade associations vs ~23% NGOs/think-tanks; MEPs also held ~29,000 meetings with unregistered organisations (incl. Beijing’s mission and Heritage Foundation) — a loophole Transparency International wants closed. Caveats FT flags: meeting counts are estimates (MEP filing mistakes/incomplete entries; AI used to organise multi-party meetings; multi-lobby sittings counted per org); MEP disclosure only mandatory since Nov 2023; Commission widened which officials must publish meetings last year.