Bram Vranken

All Guns and No Butter on a Burning Planet The insatiable demands of the military industrial complex are a barrier to human flourishing on a livable planet.

The insatiable demands of the military industrial complex are a barrier to human flourishing on a livable planet.

Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy. Email licensing@ft.com to buy additional rights. Subscribers may share up to 10 or 20 articles per month using the gift article service. More information can be found at https://www.ft.com/tour. https://www.ft.com/content/22f7afc3-8ac0-4ca1-9877-fd3f8ddcc986?desktop=true&segmentId=7c8f09b9-9b61-4fbb-9430-9208a9e233c8#myft:notification:daily-email:content Meta will use conversations people have with its chatbots to personalise advertising and content across its platforms, in a sign of how tech companies plan to make money from artificial intelligence. The owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp on Wednesday said it would use the content of chats with its Meta AI to create advertising recommendations across its suite of apps. “People will already expect that their Meta AI interactions are being used for these personalisation purposes,” said Christy Harris, privacy and data policy manager at Meta.

What an unsurprising decision by corporations that desperately need to make money with AI. If every other company with a chatbot isn't already doing this, then expect them to be following Meta's lead soon. The chatbot is not your friend; it's a corporate listening device. www.ft.com/content/22f7...

OpenAI’s New Energy Chief Is a Trump Administration Natural Gas Evangelist The ChatGPT creator hired John McCarrick, a gas-loving former Trump energy official, to guide how the company will source huge quantities of power for its colossal supercomputers.

OpenAI *really* isn't hiding its intention to power the AI boom with fossil fuels.

New from me @desmog.com

www.desmog.com/2025/10/13/o...

AI’s power problem? Brussels isn’t losing sleep The AI fever gripping financial markets has delayed the phase-out of coal plants in the U.S. and is sparking fresh investment in nuclear energy. Yet, despite rising concerns over AI’s carbon footprint, the new European Commission push to “Apply AI” appears unworried about the technology’s soaring energy demands. Instead, the new report urges the energy sector to adopt AI to optimise energy grids and storage, while offering only a cursory nod to the rapid rise in energy consumption the technology is expected to bring. Its only tangible commitment? Hidden deep in an annex: a plan to ask companies to report AI-related energy consumption under a common standard. But even that’s not expected until late next year – while Big Tech’s servers, and the coal plants feeding them, keep burning. Alexander Fanta

The European Commission launched a new AI strategy last week. But it barely mentioned the huge amount of energy gobbled up by AI, and the devastating environmental fallout.

Find this in our latest newsletter: www.ftm.eu/newsletters/...

⚠️For years, the Big Tech front group Allied for Startups has been underreporting its lobby budget.

👏 Following a complaint by CEO and @lobbycontrol.bsky.social, Allied for Startups has now been forced by the EU Transparency Register to correct its registration.

👉 corporateeurope.org/en/media/6430

Deregulation Watch | Corporate Europe Observatory Check out our new posts on Deregulation Watch which helps civil society monitor new developments in the deregulation agenda, assess what’s at stake, and organise in defence of strong social, environme...

This week #DeregulationWatch reports on the powerful intervention by UN Special Rapporteur on toxics & human rights Marcos Orellana criticising the EU's Chemicals omnibus saying “there is no compelling justification” for the proposed measures.

#Deregulation

corporateeurope.org/en/deregulat...

Larry Ellison, l'autre milliardaire réactionnaire de la tech... dont vous n'avez pas encore assez entendu parler Plus discret qu'un Elon Musk sur ses accointances politiques, le patron d'Oracle Larry Ellison est en train de se construire un véritable empire médiatique outre-Atlantique avec l'acquisition du group...

[ENQUETE]

Plus discret que Musk, le patron d’Oracle Larry Ellison est en train de bâtir un empire médiatique qui inclura peut-être bientôt TikTok et CNN

Une force de frappe qu’il pourrait mettre au service de ses amis Trump, Blair et Netanyahu

➡️ multinationales.org/fr/enquetes/...
#FAF40

Big Tech lawyer played key role in picking Ireland’s new privacy regulator Former Meta lobbyist Niamh Sweeney will co-lead the Irish Data Protection Commission from mid-October.

Big piece in POLITICO asking about the independence of Ireland's process of appointing people to its Data Protection Commission. There is deep unease in Brussels about Ireland appointing a former Meta lobbyist as Meta's watchdog. Now questions about who was involved.

www.politico.eu/article/big-...

Shocking: In Berlin, SPD accepts social cuts in coalition with CDU, in Brussels S&D agrees to weaken corporate sustainability rules. Conservatives blackmail S&D with threat do vote with the far right. How about saving democracy by challenging corporate monopoly power & tackling inequality instead?

Where do startup policies come from?

Probably not from startups.

Most can hardly afford to keep the lights on, so how do they afford to lobby for changing national policy?

Answer: Big Tech’s money

3/n

first page of "Dependent development in digital capitalism: The politics of startup policies in the new periphery." abstract: As digital technology’s economic importance increases, policymakers pivot to supporting startups – new, small, high-risk firms that produce technological innovation. Tracing the passage of startup policies in Brazil and Spain between 2014 – 2022, this article argues that startup policies do little to reduce peripheral countries’ dependence on the core. In each case, startups advocated for these policies by relying on financial and organizational resources from the giant US-based technology firms known as “Big Tech.” The article makes three contributions to the framework of dependent development. First, it reinforces existing observations that dependence on Big Tech extends beyond the Global South. Second, it revives political analysis of dependency, exploring the political conditions for economic development in the periphery. Lastly, it shows how startups’ political dependence on Big Tech implies important limits on startups’ ability to lead peripheral economies out of dependence on the core.

Out now in Competition & Change
@compchange.bsky.social

“Dependent development in digital
capitalism: The politics of startup
policies in the new periphery”

@journals.sagepub.com
#polisky
journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...

1/n

2 million rally in Italy for Gaza as general strike halts key services Over 2 million people across Italy have rallied in more than 100 cities for a one-day general strike.

Over 2 million people across Italy have rallied in more than 100 cities for a one-day general strike.

BREAKING: Over a thousand people gather in Trafalgar Square to oppose genocide and the Palestine Action ban.

Police have already started arresting peaceful protestors under the Terrorism Act for silently holding signs which say "I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action"

The mask is OFF 🎭 ! EU Commission President @vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu admits that "simplification" actually means "deregulation" (surprise surprise - we've been saying this for a long time).

From her speech yesterday at the Copenhagen Competitiveness Summit ec.europa.eu/commission/p...

The Draghi report "was commissioned directly by the commission president. And the commission didn't just commission the report — it was involved in writing it.

Yet it now brandishes the Draghi report, which echoes many points of industrial lobbying, as independent expert validation of its agenda"

Ombudswoman opens inquiry concerning the development of EU standards for artificial intelligence European Ombudswoman Teresa Anjinho has opened an inquiry into how the European Commission ensures transparency, inclusiveness, and accountability in the ...

👏 Following our complaint, the @ombudsman.europa.eu has opened an inquiry into AI standard-setting - an incredibly opaque process dominated by Big Tech.

Standards are crucial to the AI Act, but behind closed door, it is industry that is holding the pen.

www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/news-docu...

European Investment Fund financed Israeli spyware company Paragon Paragon's spyware has been used against activists by multiple governments.

🚨 The 🇪🇺 European Investment Fund (EIF), provided venture capital for Israeli #spyware firm Paragon Solutions, confirmed a spokesperson for the European Investment Bank Group, to which the EIF belongs, @apache.be is reporting.

apache.be/2025/10/01/e...

EU transparency watchdog probes Commission over AI standards A civil society group has raised concerns about who is writing AI standards for the EU's flagship AI Act

EU transparency watchdog probes Commission over AI standards

Mensenrechteninstituut maakt brandhout van wetsontwerp om gevaarlijke organisaties te verbieden Het FIRM oordeelt dat het wetsontwerp van regering-De Wever in strijd is met de grondwet.

Het wetsontwerp dat de regering de macht moet geven om bepaalde organisaties te verbieden, is onder meer strijdig met de grondwet. Het ongunstige advies is een serieuze tik voor een van de stokpaardjes van de regering-De Wever.
apache.be/2025/09/29/f...

REVEALED: The big polluter and arms industry bosses overseeing government departments Two in three Whitehall department non-executive directors have corporate backgrounds - and only one is a trade unionist - analysis released ahead of Labour conference reveals.

Revealed: the arms industry bosses, executives at major polluters and senior bankers overseeing government departments:

open.substack.com/pub/abolishw... <- by me

Europe's Digital Future Demands Public Ownership And Worker Control European AI strategy must prioritise democratic governance over market solutions to protect citizens' data and workers' rights.

Europe’s digital future must put people before profit.

Our op-ed in Social Europe argues for public ownership, democratic governance and strong worker involvement in #AI strategy.

The future is too important to leave to the market.

🔗👉 www.socialeurope.eu/europes-digi...

Public servants want 'worker-owned' European clouds for AI | Euractiv Call for sovereign AI by the EPSU public servants' union also presses the Commission to give workers a say in how workplaces are digitised, per letter seen by Euractiv

🌨️Europe can’t rely on private tech giants for public services.

EPSU is calling for worker-owned & public clouds, full implementation of the AI Act, and workers’ say in digitalisation.

Read more in Euractiv’s coverage of our letter to the Commission: dlvr.it/TNDnhl

Protestors in Brussels call for the EU to Break Up Google

👀Is that EU competition chief @teresaribera.ec.europa.eu taking a hammer to break up Google??

Today we're sending a loud message to @ec.europa.eu to dismantle Google's toxic advertising monopoly! #BreakUpBigTech. Great work @lobbyctrl-tech.bsky.social bsky.social @rebalance-now.bsky.social 👏👏👏

How Big Tech Lobbying Changed Indonesia’s Tech Regulations | TechPolicy.Press Krisna Pradipta and Raymundus Rikang report on how technology companies have intervened in the making of regulations in Indonesia.

Lobbying efforts by technology companies diluted Indonesia's tech regulations by reducing burdens for algorithmic transparency, revenue sharing with publishers, and obligations to cooperate with media companies, Krisna Adhi Pradipta and Raymundus Rikang report.

Massive Attack remove music from Spotify to protest against CEO Daniel Ek’s investment in AI military The band cited a ‘moral and ethical burden’ placed on artists by revenue from their work ultimately funding lethal technologies Massive Attack have become the latest act – and first major-label one – to pull their catalogue from Spotify in protest at founder Daniel Ek investing €600m (£520m) in the military AI company Helsing. In June, Ek’s venture capital firm Prima Materia led the defence tech firm’s latest funding round. Helsing’s software uses AI technology to analyse sensor and weapons system data from battlefields to inform real-time military decisions. It also makes its own military drone, the HX-2. Ek is also chairman of Helsing. Unconnected to this initiative and in light of the (reported) significant investments by its CEO in a company producing military munition drones and AI technology integrated into fighter aircraft, Massive Attack have made a separate request to our label that our music be removed from the Spotify streaming service in all territories. In our view, the historic precedent of effective artist action during apartheid South Africa and the apartheid, war crimes and genocide now being committed by the state of Israel renders the No Music for Genocide campaign imperative. In 1991 the scourge of apartheid violence fell from South Africa, aided from a distance by public boycotts, protests, and the withdrawal of work by artists, musicians and actors. Complicity with that state was considered unacceptable. In 2025 the same now applies to the genocidal state of Israel. As of today, there’s a musician’s equivalent of the recently announced @filmworkers4palestine campaign (signed by 4,500 filmmakers, actors, industry workers & institutions) – it can be found @nomusicforgenocide & supports the wider asks of the growing @bds.movement . We’d appeal to all musicians to transfer their sadness, anger and artistic contributions into a coherent, reasonable & vital action to end the unspeakable hell being visited upon the Palestinians hour after hour. Continue reading...

Massive Attack remove music from Spotify to protest against CEO Daniel Ek’s investment in AI military

Kamermeerderheid vindt Antifa terroristische organisatie Een meerderheid in de Tweede Kamer wil dat Nederland, in navolging van de Verenigde Staten, de extreemlinkse beweging Antifa aanmerkt als terroristische organisatie. Een motie daartoe van Lidewij de V...

The far-right majority in the Dutch parliament (BBB-FvD-JA21-PVV-SGP-VVD) has just designated “Antifa” a terrorist organization.

This is a dark day for Dutch democracy and the final nail in the coffin of the VVD as a serious liberal democratic party.

Workers in blue uniforms sit at sewing stations in a factory. Text overlay discusses concerns about the EU's '28th Regime' and potential social dumping effects.

Great article from CEO explains how the EU's new plan for a "28th Regime" could undermine social and labour rights across the continent, bypassing rules in the 27 member states.

Chilling stuff 🥶

corporateeurope.org/en/2025/09/s...

Ex-tech lobbyist named as Ireland’s new Data Protection Commissioner Niamh Sweeney to take up role in October

Fox has been named Head of the Hen House in #Ireland.

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/2025/09/17/ex-tech-lobbyist-named-to-data-protection-commission/

#DataProtection #privacy #GDPR #Meta #lobbying #facebook #RevolvingDoor cc @lobbyctrl_tech @corporateeurope

Ctrl+Alt+Delete as Policy: Why Deregulation Won’t Save EU Innovation The European Commission's push to slash regulations in pursuit of competitiveness risks undermining the very foundations of technological progress.

My latest article in Social Europe:

The EC argues that Europe must focus on innovation, with regulatory simplification at the centre. This reflects a profound misunderstanding of what innovation actually needs: not regulatory chaos, but a clear one

www.socialeurope.eu/ctrlaltdelet...

Billionaire Trump donor Elon Musk owns X.

Billionaire Trump ally Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.

With this acquisition, both CNN and CBS News would be owned by billionaire Trump donor Larry Ellison.

Oligarchs’ monopoly over our media is spiraling out of control.