Alexander Fanta

@alexfanta.bsky.social

Journalist with Follow the Money. All things tech, EU, transparency. FOI curious. Find me as "fanta.99" on Signal.

Just out! Our investigation on the CJEU: more than 40% of judges have declared interests in big companies (such as Total, Boeing, Merck, etc.) Some have worked on cases involving sectors, sometimes even companies, where they hold interest. More here 👇 #CJEU www.investigate-europe.eu/posts/top-eu...

Top EU judges financial holdings raise troubling questions

More than 40 per cent of jurists at the Court of Justice have declared private financial interests, with some working on cases concerning industries where they hold shares. A new Investigate Europe in...

investigate-europe.eu

News alert: Ursula von der Leyen’s in hot water over text messages once again! Just earlier this month, the European Ombudsman told her not to auto-delete texts. Today, the watchdog is opening an inquiry into how VDL handled a confidential group chat with Starmer, Zelensky, Macron and other leaders.

SNEAKY - on 5 June the Council of the EU is holding a non-public event at its Brussels headquarters to mark the 25th anniversary of the EU’s transparency law, Regulation 1049/2001. Yes, you heard that right – there’s a closed-door event to celebrate transparency.

In der Signal-Chatgruppe der EU-Außenminister*innen werden laut der EU-Außenbeauftragen Kaja Kallas wichtige Dokumente ausgetauscht und hochrangige Treffen vorbereitet. Auf eine IFG-Anfrage hieß es, diese Chats seien keine Nachrichten im Sinne des Gesetzes. /1

Foreign interference online continues to be an issue for election integrity and it is not clear if social media platforms are better equipped now than they have been in the past. Happy to have contributed some comments for this article by @alexfanta.bsky.social on the upcoming Hungarian elections⬇️

Follow the Money EU@ftm.eu · 4mo ago

Ahead of Hungary’s elections, interference concerns echo Romania’s 2024 fiasco, where suspected Russian TikTok meddling canceled a vote. The Commission promised action, but critics say little has changed. Has the EU done enough to stop Big Tech from shaping Hungary’s future?

After reports about Russian meddling during the Romanian presidential elections, the EU Commission launched an investigation into TikTok. But more than a year later, and just days from a crucial vote in Hungary, the EU's probe is still open. What's taking so long? www.ftm.eu/articles/bru...

Slow EU TikTok probe raises fears of foreign meddling ahead of Hungary vote

As Hungary heads to the polls on Sunday, reports about Russia interfering in the elections are gaining urgency – and so does a European Commission probe into whether social media platforms are doing e...

ftm.eu

The whole social media ban for kids debate will become so much more fun when the kids realise that gaming platforms such as Roblox are likely classed as social networks (for instance, under the EU's Digital Services Act), and thus banned for them.

🚨 News alert on the long-stalled battle to pick the EU's next privacy chief, the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS). Sources tell me the Council and the EP's LIBE committee agreed on breaking the gridlock through a voting procedure also used for picking a seat for the EU Customs Agency.

Die Berichterstattung des Ö1-Morgenjournal zu dem Smartphone-Fasten-Experiment für Jugendliche löste bei mit ungewohnten Optimismus aus. Schön, daran erinnert zu werden, dass gesellschaftliche Probleme mit kollektivem Handeln angegangen werden können. Mehr davon.

Könnt mich unter Häresie-Verdacht stellen, aber szenische Einstiege in journalistischen Texten, die keine Reportagen sind, nerven mich zunehmend. Bitte lasst das mit den langen Intros, kommt einfach zu Sache.

Another day, another media outlet getting this wrong. No, the EU has not scrapped the combustion engine ban, at least not yet. It's an ongoing, highly contingent lawmaking process, not a fait accompli. And it's not a detail, either. Why do people not get that?

Politicians are unsure which way to turn. Last December, the European Commission scrapped a 2035 ban on selling new petrol or diesel cars. Instead, under pressure from Germany and Italy, it let manufacturers keep making cars with up to 10% of their current exhaust emissions past that date – in effect, a way to keep selling combustion engines.