At the same time, the Digital Omnibus is part of the European Commission’s deregulation agenda, which threatens key social and environmental standards in Europe. Ironically this deregulation agenda is being promoted by the Commission as a way to make the EU ‘competitive’ – despite in reality actively empowering US Big Tech companies that dominate the field.
The Digital Omnibus was immediately heavily criticised by numerous civil society organisations. Politico even called it the end of the ‘Brussels effect’ – that is, that European tech regulations are adopted in other countries – and wrote that “Washington is [now] setting the pace on deregulation in Europe.”
To show the extent of Big Tech’s influence on the Digital Omnibus, we compared the Commission’s proposals with the lobbying positions from Big Tech and its associations.
The proposals in the Digital Omnibus concern both data protection and rules for AI. While the EU mistakenly speaks of benefits for European corporations, it is clear that weak digital rules strengthen the power of Google, Microsoft, Meta etc, thereby jeopardising the goal of becoming more independent from Big Tech and the US.
In the past, Big Tech has repeatedly spread the one-sided lobbying message that data protection hinders economic growth and innovation, especially with regard to AI. This includes exceptions for SMEs and a fundamental focus on making more use of data instead of protecting it.
Tech companies are spreading these messages with a record-breaking lobbying budget, a huge lobbying network, and support from the Trump administration. The digital industry’s annual lobby spending has grown from €113 million in 2023 to €151 million today – an increase of 33.6 percent in just two years.
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Lobbying of the far-right seems to have become a particular priority for Meta, and to a lesser extent Google. While during the previous parliamentary mandate, Meta only met once with a far-right MEP, during this parliamentary mandate it has already met 38 times with MEPs from the ECR, the Patriots and the Europe of Sovereign Nations Group. The digital omnibus is a key priority in those meetings. In the week of 8 December 2025, Meta met with four far right MEPs with most of those meetings mentioning the digital omnibus.
Google has also not shied away from meeting far-right MEPs. A few days after the launch of the digital omnibus, the Head of Public Affairs of Google France joined a dinner party in Strasbourg hosted by six French MEPs from the far right Rassemblement National.
Big Tech’s lobbying strategy in the US, where it has aligned itself with the Trump administration, now appears to have been extended to the European Parliament.