Big tech companies have been lobbying EU justice commissioner Michael McGrath, in advance of his bringing forward a law that could crack down on addictive apps and targeted online advertising.
McGrath, the former Fianna Fáil minister, became the European Commissioner for Justice in December 2024. One of his responsibilities is developing the Digital Fairness Act (DFA), legislation expected by the end of this year which is designed to target so-called “dark patterns” online.
The proposal would include a crackdown on “addictive design” of digital products and “unfair personalisation” in targeted adverts.
The Corporate Europe Observatory, a Brussels-based lobby group that campaigns for greater lobbying transparency, published a report last week on efforts by tech companies to lobby against aspects of the Bill. Using Freedom of Information, the observatory found several records of meetings with, and letters to, McGrath from tech companies.
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On June 3rd last year, McGrath met Google regarding the DFA where the tech giant “provided information about the economic value of targeted advertising”. Google has previously told the European Commission it is “concerned about proposals to ban or restrict popular digital features without clear research demonstrating consumer harm”. Snap, the owner of Snapchat, also met and wrote to McGrath several times in 2025. Snap chief executive and cofounder Evan Spiegel wrote to McGrath on May 27th, 2025, and said he “strongly” welcomed the commissioner’s objective “to take a targeted and evidence-based approach to shape this new legislation”.
TikTok also met his predecessor and their team in May of 2024, before its chief executive, Shou Chew, wrote to McGrath the following December to tell him he “can personally count on my support in the years ahead”.
The Interactive Advertising Bureau is a trade association for online advertisers, and it includes Google, Meta and TikTok among its members. It met McGrath last April and wrote to him afterwards to stress again that the bureau believes allowing targeted advertising is a way to make apps and sites competitive.
Last Friday, the commission announced it wanted to ban the most addictive features of TikTok, pushing the company to clamp down on infinite scrolling, keeping people hooked for hours at a time.
The commission said it is looking to force TikTok to effectively make its popular video-sharing app less addictive.
In a preliminary finding, it said that TikTok breached the EU’s Digital Services Act, the union’s strict set of rules aimed at regulating excessive and harmful features of big social media platforms.
According to the commission, TikTok had failed to properly assess the risks associated with the hyperaddictive features of its app.
TikTok, Google and McGrath declined to comment.
