MEPs want to tackle the shadow lobby of large tech companies

Dutch MEP Paul Tang and two colleagues want the president of parliament to investigate the shadow lobbying practices of big tech companies and to intervene to deny shell companies access to the European Parliament.

The letter, that Paul Tang posted on his Twitter account, speaks of a large-scale lobby that started in the context of the legislative process surrounding the Digital Markets Act and the Digital Services Act. According to the drafters, this lobby has “resorted to covert and deceptive ways of influencing policymakers.” The MEPs emphasize that there was ‘mass lobbying’ and that transparent tools and good faith of those with whom meetings are held are of great importance.

The authors write that they are displeased to read that there are organizations that actively target their lobbying campaigns at parliamentarians, but not in the EU Transparency Register to stand. According to the parliamentarians, this is a practice in which shell companies are listed in the register, which are financed by the companies that are not in the transparency register. “The work of these shell organizations posing as official representatives of voter groups, such as small and medium-sized businesses, while at the same time promoting the business interests of their funders is outrageous and prejudicial to a proper balance of interests.”

The letter ends with an appeal to the President of the European Parliament to identify these shell companies and their contacts with parliament, and to deny them access to parliament. In the latter case, the politicians also believe that access to parliament should be blocked for the companies that finance these empty organizations.

This letter is co-signed by Christel Schaldemose. She was the European Parliament’s rapporteur during the legislative process of the Digital Services Act and was responsible for the substantive consideration of the bill. The DSA and DMA are intended to regulate large tech companies and have therefore received a lot of attention from these companies, including in the form of lobbying campaigns. On Tuesday, the European Parliament approved these two EU laws.

Michiel van Hulten, the director of Transparency International EU, previously said in an interview with Tweakers that there are many things that can be improved with regard to the transparency of lobbying in the EU, including from the politicians themselves. For example, it is currently often unclear with whom lobbyists from the big tech companies speak within the European Parliament. This is because by no means every parliamentarian indicates with whom he is having conversations. In addition, it is often clear who senior officials or commissioners are speaking to, but contacts between companies and lower-ranking officials of the EU do not have to be entered in the register.