🤳 Open phone for one thing.

[corporateeurope@mstdn.social]

The EU Commission is preparing a Digital Fairness Act with measures against addictive design of social media 👏

Our new investigation reveals intense #lobbying by Big Tech to block such measures 🚨

Will EU decision-makers stand up against Big Tech lobbying?

#DFA

https://www.corporateeurope.org/en/2026/02/addicted-algorithm-how-big-tech-lobbies-keep-us-hooked-social-media

[corporateeurope@mstdn.social]

Check out ‘Addicted to the algorithm: how Big Tech lobbies to keep us hooked on social media’

Big Tech #lobbyists:

- enjoyed privileged access to EU decision-makers

- made false claims about online safety

- argued new rules harm EU 'simplification' agenda

[corporateeurope@mstdn.social]

Privileged access ⚠️

Commission officials met lobbyists more than 100 times on the Digital Fairness Act

83% of the lobby meetings were with industry representatives 🤯

Less than 14% of these meetings were with NGOs and trade unions 🤔

[corporateeurope@mstdn.social]

Our new report shows Meta #lobbyists presented misleading claims to EU officials about the safety of Instagram for young women

These claims are contradicted by several recent independent studies as well as analyses of Meta’s own internal documents

[corporateeurope@mstdn.social]

The Consumer Choice Center – a lobby group funded by Google and Meta – has launched a project called ‘EU Tech Loop’, which publishes articles on the Euronews website that closely echo Big Tech talking points

This raises questions about untransparent Big Tech influencing via EU media spaces

[herman@mastodon.world]

@corporateeurope Guess what the outcome will be …

[corporateeurope@mstdn.social]

Beyond Big Tech’s lobbying firepower, the Digital Fairness Act is facing several other obstacles:

- the EU’s deregulation agenda

- pressure from the Trump administration

- the growing power of the far right

- and the preference of centre-right politicians to limit rules for minors

[corporateeurope@mstdn.social]

The addictive design of social media is a major societal problem with serious impacts on public health & endangering the future of democracy

Weakening of the #DFA, in the name of 'simplification' or ‘competitiveness’, would only benefit the already excessively powerful US-based tech giants

[corporateeurope@mstdn.social]

There’s a very unequal #lobbying battle ahead, between Big Tech with its massive lobbying budgets versus civil society groups with far less resources

But civil society has public opinion on its side and citizens, increasingly fed up with Big Tech, are getting organised

Its time to get involved!

[corporateeurope@mstdn.social]

We’re small, independent, and not funded by Big Tech or governments. Our newsletter is how we organise, analyse, and fight back. If If you appreciate our work and and to know more, subscribe!

https://www.corporateeurope.org/en/newsletter

[quincy@chaos.social]

@corporateeurope

There ought to be rules to balance this.

Maybe every industry euro spent on lobbying should be matched, by law, by one euro from the same company that pays for equal access by an independent expert ...

(chosen by an independent mechanism on scientific merits)