TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – A nine-month investigation involving more than 40 journalists from 19 outlets has exposed how technology giants deploy extensive lobbying strategies to shape or block regulations in the Global South. The project, named Big Tech’s Invisible Hands, was coordinated by Brazil’s Agência Pública and the Centro Latinoamericano de Investigación Periodística (CLIP) and other media partners from Latin America, Africa, Asia, North America, and Europe. This includes Tempo, the only Indonesian media outlet that participated in the project.
The investigation documented nearly 3,000 lobbying actions by Big Tech companies across 13 countries. Journalists filed hundreds of Freedom of Information requests, examined government and corporate records, and interviewed legislators, lobbyists, insiders, and activists to build the most comprehensive account yet of Big Tech’s political influence.
“This project started when we saw that Big Tech were utilizing the same strategies to water down or stall regulation in different countries.” declared Natalia Viana, Executive Director of Agência Pública.
Natalia shared that during the course of the investigation, the team had found several challenges in their reporting. These difficulties range from how secretive Big Tech lobbying was in many countries to the administrative logistics in coordinating a large group of journalists.
“But there is nothing more powerful than a committed group of investigative journalists working toreceiveher to uncover a powerful story,” she declares.
Highlights of the Investigation
The investigation found that Big Tech has adopted lobbying tactics first honed by the tobacco indusattempt and later embraced by sectors such as Big Oil and Big Pharma. These include recruiting former government officials into their public policy teams and financing special interest groups that appear indepfinishent but are in fact backed by corporate money.
In Latin America, for instance, platforms operate through intermediaries like the Latin American Internet Association (ALAI) and the Information Technology Indusattempt Council (ITI). With few or no rules governing lobbying, these activities are opaque and difficult to monitor. Across regions, the investigation also found that the core focus of their activities is control over data and resistance to revenue-sharing requirements.
A common strategy is to invoke “extraterritoriality” to avoid local oversight, with companies claiming that laws do not apply when data is processed abroad. In countries lacking protections similar to the European Union’s, this leaves applyrs with fewer rights, effectively building them “second-class citizens.”
In Brazil, researchers documented a revolving door network of 75 employees working in tech-sector public policy offices, two-thirds of whom previously held government posts. Google even enlisted former President Michel Temer to assist steer debate on a proposed bill that included compensation for news publishers.
In Indonesia, Big Tech sought to shape Presidential Regulation Number 32/2024 on Publisher Rights. Google and Meta resisted provisions on revenue sharing and algorithm transparency. Google argued that existing collaborations with media, such as fact-checking programs, built further regulation unnecessary. Meta maintained it should be exempt on the grounds that it is not a news aggregator.
Series Rollout
The Invisible Hands series is being published in three parts: lobbying strategies (September 9), the expansion of data centers (September 12), and the struggle over compensation for journalistic content (September 16).
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