Apple spent €7m lobbying in the EU in 2024, holding 76 high-level meetings as Big Tech boosts spending. Learn how it ties to antitrust fights and the DMA push.
© A. Krivonosov
In 2024, Apple spent €7 million on lobbying its interests in the European Union and held 76 meetings with Members of the European Parliament and senior officials at the European Commission. That level of access places the company as the second-biggest spender in the EU tech sector after Meta*, which laid out $10 million.
A new analysis by Corporate Europe Observatory notes that tech firms’ lobbying outlays rose from €113 million in 2023 to €151 million in 2024, an increase of 33.6% over two years. On a typical working day, major tech companies manage more than one meeting with Commission representatives and nearly two with MEPs. Apple alone took part in 29 meetings with the Commission and 47 with lawmakers in the first six months of 2025 — a cadence that shows Brussels is being worked with uncommon intensity.
The bulk of the spending and face time concentrates among the ten largest tech companies, most of them based in the United States. Apple is also active in industry associations engaged in lobbying and continues to push for scrapping the Digital Markets Act (DMA) while taking part in antitrust disputes with the EU. Against this backdrop, the tilt of influence toward a tight group of giants looks less like an exception and more like the new normal.
* Meta is banned in Russia, and its activities are designated as extremist.