Inside Big Tech's EU lobbying efforts ahead of new rules: Google had the most meetings, CEOs led lobbying, and focus shifted from hate speech to antitrust rules
Big Tech pivoted away from content moderation rules to #antitrust proposals in the summer b/c Digital Markets Act represented a greater near-term threat Laura Kayali / @laukaya : Take-aways from 2 years of lobbying on the Commission's rulebook for platforms. With @markscott82 — The fight changed focus halfway from the Digital Services Act to the Digital Markets Act — Big Tech divided on the DMA — The rise of the CEO-lobbyist https://www.politico.eu/... Mark Scott / @markscott82 : In frenzied WhatsApp chats, lengthy Zoom calls and (pre-covid lockdown) in-person meetings, tech execs have vied for influence w/ civil society groups & traditional European industrial giants Mark Scott / @markscott82 : — Access is king: EU officials took 160 meetings on digital reboot plans, & @Google topped the table w/ the most meetings. — In COVID-19 era, contacts are key, & smaller players w/ less access lost out Mark Scott / @markscott82 : Europe is about to unveil a major overhaul of its digital rulebook — and Silicon Valley has pulled out all the stops in its lobbying efforts. Here's how that fight has gone w/ @LauKaya https://www.politico.eu/... Mark Scott / @markscott82 : Digital policy announcements are like city buses. You wait around forever, and then two show up at once: Also coming tomorrow, UK's “Online Harms” proposals to force duty of care onto social media companies to protect their users from “harmful content”