Michael McGrath was understood to have been taken by surprise when he got word Ursula von der Leyen would be handing him the European Commission brief covering justice and the rule of law.
The former Irish minister had been hoping for a finance portfolio after making the move to Brussels to be Ireland’s commissioner.
In the year and a half since then, the Fianna Fáil politician has positioned himself as someone inside the EU’s powerful lawmaking body whom US tech multinationals feel they can talk to.
You might expect that Henna Virkkunen, EU commissioner for tech sovereignty, would be the one doing the talking. The Finnish politician oversees the union’s new digital regulations that regularly bring Brussels and Big Tech firms into conflict.
READ MORE
McGrath has actually held slightly more meetings with executives from US tech and artificial intelligence giants than Virkkunen, according to logs disclosing both commissioners’ lobbying meetings.
That is remarkable when you think about the political heat surrounding tech regulation at the moment. It is one of the biggest points of friction in the strained transatlantic relationship. As one of six “executive vice-presidents”, Virkkunen sits one rung above McGrath in the commissioner hierarchy too.
But it was McGrath who first beat a path stateside in the early months of this commission’s term, travelling to Washington for St Patrick’s Day last year, when he met executives from Apple, Facebook-owner Meta, Microsoft and Amazon to talk policy.
Virkkunen had spoken to Apple chief executive Tim Cooke a week before on a video call. They discussed new EU rules intended to prevent tech monopolies, the Digital Markets Act, which the iPhone-maker despises.
The Finnish tech commissioner travelled to San Francisco two months later for her own blitz of chats with tech executives.
McGrath’s job – commissioner for justice, democracy, rule of law and consumer protection – does cut across a fair bit of tech policy. It includes the EU’s strict GDPR data protection rules, political advertising on social media and ecommerce.
The former Irish finance minister is drafting a new EU law, the Digital Fairness Act, to better regulate the addictive design of social media platforms, influencers and tricks used to keep people scrolling or spending money online.
Apple and Meta used recent meetings with McGrath in Silicon Valley to air grievances about the EU’s digital regulations, which sit squarely in Virkkunen’s remit, minutes of the discussions show. That was during the Irish commissioner’s trip to San Francisco this April, where he also met OpenAI’s chief executive Sam Altman.
A spokeswoman for Virkkunen said the commissioner holds “regular talks with the industry” about policy covered by her portfolio. McGrath did not offer any comment.
Irish governments have long been seen as the US tech sector’s best friend in the EU. That comes with risk though. Looking too cosy to Big Tech can be a political vulnerability in Brussels today.
Joel Kaplan, Meta’s chief global affairs officer, who took over from Nick Clegg last year, previously told senior Government figures that McGrath was the only person inside the European Commission they could get “traction” from when raising concerns.
New internal documents obtained by The Irish Times show Kaplan, Meta’s top lobbyist, recently thanked McGrath for agreeing to convey the tech giant’s gripe about EU battery-replacement rules to commission officials.
McGrath and Kaplan privately sat down together at the World Economic Forum in January. Meta arranged for the commissioner to try on a pair of the company’s new Ray-Ban Display AI smart glasses.
Kaplan, a former Republican Party fixer, took the opportunity to have a go at Brussels regulations that will make it easier for people to replace the batteries in “wearable” tech glasses and smart watches.
In a January 30th email afterwards, Kaplan said Meta would share more details about how the planned EU requirements could “impact design, safety and consumer experience” of its gadgets. The reforms are intended to prolong the lifespan of tech products and are due to come into force next February.
“We thank you for your willingness to help convey these concerns to DG [Directorate-General for] Environment,” Kaplan wrote.
In a January 31st response McGrath said: “It would be helpful if your team could indeed provide a note on the specific issue concerning the Batteries Regulation so that we fully understand the issue”.
The commissioner said he appreciated Kaplan’s “willingness to have a fresh look” at Meta’s policy of no longer hosting political adverts.
“I believe it is important that legitimate political adverts can continue to be placed on platforms,” McGrath wrote. The internal correspondence was released to The Irish Times following an EU access-to-information request.
“Since coming into office fourteen months ago, this Commission has placed a major emphasis on improving the competitiveness of the European economy,” he said.
“We look forward to continuing the conversation on all these important matters,” McGrath told the Meta executive.
