Corporate Europe Observatory and LobbyControl published an investigation into lobbying by major technology companies following the European Commission’s November 2025 proposal to simplify EU digital regulation. The researchers said changes sought by Google, Meta, OpenAI and other companies could expand their ability to use Europeans’ personal data to train and operate artificial intelligence systems without separate user consent.

The European Commission presented the Digital Omnibus as a way to simplify digital regulation. Rights groups and European regulators, however, criticized proposed changes to the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR.

In October 2026, the Council of the EU agreed on a negotiating position that provides for further weakening of some GDPR provisions, according to the investigation’s authors.

Lobbying around the Digital Omnibus

The researchers analyzed documents obtained through freedom of information requests, parliamentary data and lobbying registers. They identified 655 European Parliament meetings with lobbyists on the Digital Omnibus after November 2025. Business representatives participated in 83% of those meetings, while civil society organizations and trade unions accounted for 11%.

Google held 21 meetings with members of the European Parliament, Meta held 19 and Apple held nine, according to the investigation.

The German government held 85 meetings involving representatives of 11 non-European technology companies between May 2025 and September 2026. Google, Microsoft, Amazon and OpenAI were the most active companies, the researchers said.

OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman held five meetings with senior German officials over four months. The exact content of those discussions remains unknown.

According to the analysis, Meta representative Martin Ruby contacted a Danish official in March 2026 about the possible removal of some changes proposed by the European Commission. In April, a Google lobbyist also raised concerns about excluding the lawful-interest provision for AI.

The investigation said Germany and Ireland played an important role in advancing provisions more favorable to the technology industry.

Potential effects on personal-data use

One key provision concerns the use of personal data on the basis of “lawful interest” not only to train AI models but also to operate AI systems.

The digital rights group noyb warned:

“It is currently proposed that, when using personal data ‘in the context of AI’, companies are generally permitted to do basically anything. The commercial interests of AI companies should generally trump the fundamental rights of users’ fundamental rights.”

Another proposed change would allow certain pseudonymized data to fall outside the GDPR’s scope when transferred to third parties. Critics fear data brokers could exploit that provision.

The technology industry argues that the reform is needed to simplify regulation and improve the competitiveness of Europe’s AI market.

The proposed changes have not taken effect. The European Parliament is expected to establish its position in early 2027, after which further legislative negotiations will take place.

The EU’s Artificial Intelligence Act, known as the AI Act, came into force in early August 2026.

Source: Incrypted