https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/579888/how-the-oil-and-gas-industry-helped-rewrite-new-zealand-s-drilling-rules "That shows an extraordinary sense of self entitlement from the oil and gas industry," said Greenpeace executive director Russel Norman. "That these same companies and same individuals are back in the room demanding that a loophole in the law be reopened so that the taxpayer has to pick up the bill once again for their mess - it's really striking." #nzpol #climate #fossilfuels #lobbying

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/579888/how-the-oil-and-gas-industry-helped-rewrite-new-zealand-s-drilling-rules "That shows an extraordinary sense of self entitlement from the oil and gas industry," said Greenpeace executive director Russel Norman. "That these same companies and same individuals are back in the room demanding that a loophole in the law be reopened so that the taxpayer has to pick up the bill once again for their mess - it's really striking." #nzpol #climate #fossilfuels #lobbying

Your daily reminder that @EUCommission are only cunts on days with names ending with day.

“The European Commission will launch its long-awaited bid to simplify digital rules in an effort to reduce the regulatory burden on businesses and to promote European start ups in the global artificial intelligence race.”

https://www.rte.ie/news/2025/1119/1544678-simplification-digital-rules/

#EU #BigTech #AI #bullshit #institutionalCorruption #lobbying #revolvingDoors #EUCommission #spinelessToadiesInSuits

Regulating Big Tech is like regulating a malignant tumour. You don’t regulate a malignant tumour. You cut it out, with enough of a surgical margin to ensure you get every last putrid bit to avoid regrowth.

(This is moot, of course, as we’re not even regulating Big Tech, we’re feeding it with subsidies, government contracts, and access to national healthcare and other sensitive data while the folks who should be regulating them eye their next lucrative gig beyond the revolving doors of their lobbies.)

#BigTech #capitalism #cancer #regulation #institutionalCorruption #lobbying #revolvingDoors #extinctionStageCapitalism

Regulating Big Tech is like regulating a malignant tumour. You don’t regulate a malignant tumour. You cut it out, with enough of a surgical margin to ensure you get every last putrid bit to avoid regrowth.

(This is moot, of course, as we’re not even regulating Big Tech, we’re feeding it with subsidies, government contracts, and access to national healthcare and other sensitive data while the folks who should be regulating them eye their next lucrative gig beyond the revolving doors of their lobbies.)

#BigTech #capitalism #cancer #regulation #institutionalCorruption #lobbying #revolvingDoors #extinctionStageCapitalism

https://www.svt.se/nyheter/lokalt/jamtland/lobbyforskare-darfor-kan-lobbyarbete-vara-en-fara-for-demokratin

Lobbyforskare: Därför kan lobbyarbete vara en fara för demokratin.
Anna Tyllström har forskat om public affairs-branschen och lobbying och hon tycker att lobbybranschen borde regleras mer och att Sverige ska införa ett lobbyregister.
– Det blir ett problem när vissa särintressen får oproportionerlig tillgång jämfört med andra intressen och när det inte är transparent hur de här kontakterna sker, säger hon.

#svpol #svpolitik #politik #lobbying #sverige

https://www.svt.se/nyheter/lokalt/jamtland/lobbyforskare-darfor-kan-lobbyarbete-vara-en-fara-for-demokratin

Lobbyforskare: Därför kan lobbyarbete vara en fara för demokratin.
Anna Tyllström har forskat om public affairs-branschen och lobbying och hon tycker att lobbybranschen borde regleras mer och att Sverige ska införa ett lobbyregister.
– Det blir ett problem när vissa särintressen får oproportionerlig tillgång jämfört med andra intressen och när det inte är transparent hur de här kontakterna sker, säger hon.

#svpol #svpolitik #politik #lobbying #sverige

Tech firms are spending more than ever on #lobbying the #EU amid mounting opposition to the bloc’s digital rules, according to @corporateeurope.

The 733 digital #industry groups registered in #Brussels now spend €151 million a year pushing their interests, up from €113 million 2 years ago.

Meta is the overall largest lobby spender in the EU (€10 million).

There are now an estimated 890 lobbyists working to shape the tech agenda, up from 699 in 2023.

https://corporateeurope.org/en/2025/10/big-tech-lobby-budgets-hit-record-levels

Tech firms are spending more than ever on #lobbying the #EU amid mounting opposition to the bloc’s digital rules, according to @corporateeurope.

The 733 digital #industry groups registered in #Brussels now spend €151 million a year pushing their interests, up from €113 million 2 years ago.

Meta is the overall largest lobby spender in the EU (€10 million).

There are now an estimated 890 lobbyists working to shape the tech agenda, up from 699 in 2023.

https://corporateeurope.org/en/2025/10/big-tech-lobby-budgets-hit-record-levels

I only now read Georg Riekeles' excellent 2022 account of #BigTech's outrageous global #lobbying influence. While I don't agree with everything (e.g. his take on #liability and the #copyright debate), after 15 years in #EU #Brussels I'd say his long-read is frighteningly accurate.

Includes special mentions of @corporateeurope and other crucial civil society groups fighting back.

A must-read: https://medium.com/@georg.riekeles/teknopolis-7cbe48a5fcf2

#TrackingFreeAds #DigitalServicesAct #DigitalMarketsAct #AIAct

"Alright, I’ve officially spent too much time reading Trump’s 28-page AI Action Plan, his three new AI executive orders, listening to his speech on the subject, and reading coverage of the event. I’ll put it bluntly: The vibes are bad. Worse than I expected, somehow.

Broadly speaking, the plan is that the Trump administration will help Silicon Valley put the pedal down on AI, delivering customers, data centers and power, as long as it operates in accordance with Trump’s ideological frameworks; i.e., as long as the AI is anti-woke.

More specifically, the plan aims to further deregulate the tech industry, penalize US states that pass AI laws, speed adoption of AI in the federal government and beyond, fast-track data center development, fast-track nuclear and fossil fuel power to run them, move to limit China’s influence in AI, and restrict speech in AI and the frameworks governing them by making terms like diversity, inclusion, misinformation, and climate change forbidden. There’s also a section on American workers that’s presented as protecting them from AI, but in reality seeks to give employers more power over them. It all portends a much darker future than I thought we’d see in this thing."

https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/trumps-ai-action-plan-is-a-blueprint

#USA#Trump#AI#GenerativeAI#AIActionPlan#BigTech #AIPolicy#Lobbying#Plutocracy

so law is being framed and pushed by a lobby company on behalf of foreign Internet companies by the Government who cannot compute 😫

#lobbying / #canberra / #auspol <https://humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-07/59_-_digital_industry_group_inc._digi.pdf>