Tech companies’ access to UK ministers dwarfs that of child safety groups | Lobbying

Tech companies meet with government ministers multiple times each working day and enjoy high-level political access that dwarfs that of child safety and copyright campaigners, who have described the model as “shocking” and “disturbing”.

The Guardian’s investigation has found that Amazon, Meta, Microsoft and Elon Musk’s

Google, the $4 trillion California company, had the biggest reach, with more than 100 ministerial meetings, according to campaigners’ analysis of two years’ worth of meeting records up to October 2025. Campaigners said it showed the tech industry had “captured” the government. Industry lobbying group Tech UK met with ministers more than once every eight working days.

X attended 13 meetings; this was a small fraction of the total number; but still more so than the NSPCC or the Molly Rose Foundation, the child safety campaign group set up by the family of Molly Russell, the 14-year-old who killed herself after viewing harmful online content.

“The frequency of meetings between the government and big tech and their advocates is astounding and points to the incredible power imbalance at play when it comes to protecting children online,” said Andy Burrows, CEO of the Molly Rose Foundation.

The government defended its position, saying “regular interaction with technology companies is vital to deliver economic growth and transform public services.” Campaigners said the government must stop “getting the knee to America’s big tech companies” and the figures reveal an “incredible imbalance of power” over protecting children online.

There is growing controversy over X’s Grok AI tool, and there has been a resurgence in the campaign for the government to follow Australia and ban social media for under-16s; tech companies oppose this. 84% of people in the UK anxious Ministers will prioritize tech company partnerships over the public interest when it comes to AI regulation.

Dame Chi Onwurah, Labor chair of the science and technology select committee, said the findings underlined “the fact that these firms have turnover greater than the GDP of many countries and their ability to influence stands in stark contrast to that of their users, our voters or those campaigning to make the internet safer.”

He said it was “vital that big tech is accountable to parliament – something further underlined by recent disturbing news about ‘nudification’ tools.”

While tech companies and their lobbyists attended at least 639 meetings with ministers, there were only 75 meetings attended by organizations and campaigners fighting for greater protection of children online, such as the NSPCC.

The reach of tech firms was three times greater than that of organizations and campaigners trying to protect creators’ copyrighted works from being mined to create AI models; It’s a development that figures including Elton John and Kazuo Ishiguro say artists risk losing their “lifeblood”.

Creator rights campaigner Ed Newton-Rex described the figures as “shocking” and said ministers explained why they had launched their consultation on AI and copyright “with a ‘preferred option’ that reads like big tech’s wish list”.

“It is imperative that the government stops bending the knee to big US tech companies that do not have the interests of the British people at heart, as the latest debacle at Grok shows,” he said.

Records of more than 11,000 meetings across both Labor and the Conservatives show almost 160 meetings with technology companies, more than 100 with organizations lobbying for artificial intelligence and copyright protection, and 25 with those concerned with child safety.

US and Canadian AI start-ups Anthropic, OpenAI and Cohere together held 27 meetings with ministers. Last summer, each signed a memorandum of understanding with the UK government to explore the greater use of artificial intelligence in public services.

A spokesperson for the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) said regular engagement with technology companies was essential to ensure the safe deployment of their technologies in the UK.

“These meetings cover a wide range of topics, from investment and innovation to enforcing our updated laws for a safer online world,” they said. “DSIT ministers also routinely meet with campaigning and civil society groups. As his actions on online security this week show, the science and technology secretary [Liz Kendall] always ready to stand up and defend the law and British values.”

Julian David, chief executive of Tech UK, said it was “normal for the tech sector to engage regularly and broadly with government”, given its central role in many aspects of the economy and society.

Google said it was working closely with the government to ensure it has a positive and safe impact in the UK “through our investments in communities, digital skills training, new AI products and advanced product design (including age assurance and Online Safety Act compliance)”.

Lady Beeban Kidron, who campaigns on child safety and copyright across platforms, said: “The naiveté of successive governments around tech lobbying is disturbing. This privileged access is reflected in their policies and the tech industry’s talking points are glossed over by officials. This capture is damaging.”

“In opposition, Labor promised safety for women and children and to protect the creative industries, but the government refused to take necessary action on both issues. It is not wrong to talk to tech companies, but these figures tell us all we need to know. The government of a sovereign state has a duty to its own citizens, not to its tech brethren.”