I'm so tired of EU national leaders talking out of two sides of their mouths - saying the EU should do more and be stronger and then refusing to give it the money and resources necessary to do so. Because they lack the political courage to be honest with citizens about why it is needed.

Northern leaders want to cut an EU budget already on a shoestring

EU national leaders keep saying they want a union that “does more.” Then they show up in Brussels asking it to spend less.

davekeating.substack.com

On 16 July Chinese LLMs reached near parity with top US LLMs. This indicates 3 things: 1. China’s heavy AI regulation (it has at least as much AI law as the EU) did not stop AI innovation. 2. Revoking Biden’s AI Executive Order did not protect US lead. ...

As I wrote in my The Economist letter in March, China's heavily regulated LLM industry is catching up on US largely unregulated industry (Kimi 3 has near parity with Claude Opus 5). Safety standards didn't stop Chinese innovation. The EU must reconsider its assumption that deregulation = innovation.

I'll be speaking in a few minutes at IETF 126, at the Privacy Enhancements and Assessments Research Group datatracker.ietf.org/meeting/126/...

"Extremely unpleasant" meetings. Former Irish Data Protection Commissioner on discussion with European colleagues. www.lawsociety.ie/gazette/top-...

Ireland's Minister for Enterprise met Meta to discuss the "digital agenda for Ireland's EU presidency" at a private dinner at the US ambassador's residence. It was hosted "in partnership with Meta". www.independent.ie/business/min...

Big interview with @alemanno.bsky.social Alberto Alemanno in Austria’s Die Presse. “Ireland is too pro-American to lead EU meetings neutrally” www.diepresse.com/36404799/irl...

„Irland ist zu proamerikanisch, um EU-Treffen neutral zu leiten“

Der Europarechtler Alberto Alemann kritisiert Dublin für Interessenkonflikte und fordert Irland auf, sich während seines sechsmonatigen Ratsvorsitzes nicht mit den Themen Digitales und...

diepresse.com

New York Times on what new EU transparency rules reveal about Microsoft's tax: 40% of all income registered in Ireland, 0.5% registered in Germany. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/03/t...

Our letter demanding the Eau's Irish presidency to recuse itself from digital and fiscal (tax) files is now out at the @financialtimes.com Check it out and help us disseminate it! giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

Cecilia Rikap@ceciliarikap.bsky.social · 4w ago

Ireland's questionable track in tax and digital regulation has led us to demand the Irish EU presidency to recuse itself from related files. Signatories: @mazzucatom.bsky.social Shoshana Zuboff @isabellamweber.bsky.social @jasonhickel.bsky.social @nsrnicek.bsky.social & 50 more Sign below

Ireland now chairs the Council of the EU including the digital rulebook & tax reform files it has spent a decade resisting. You can’t referee a game you’re playing in. Here’s our call for Ireland to recuse itself 👇

Important from prominent EPP MEPs Andreas Schwab @aschwab.bsky.social & Pablo Arias: "Concerns regarding Ireland's historical enforcement of the GDPR and its economic alignment with large non-EU technology firms raise serious questions about its capacity to neutrally oversee these negotiations".

50 years ago today, a group of activists, academics and lawyers gathered in Trinity College Dublin for the inaugural meeting of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties.

My piece in Germany's Süddeutsche Zeitung @sz-dossier.de this morning shows how Ireland's EU presidency is an opportunity for Germany. Unready for a direct confrontation with Trump and US Tech, Berlin an use Ireland as a lever to apply pressure from a distance. www.sueddeutsche.de/dossier/gast...

Deutschland und Europa müssen Druck auf Irland ausüben (Gastbeitrag) | SZ Dossier

Dieser Gastbeitrag von Johnny Ryan wurde ursprünglich im Briefing “Digitale Reformpläne” des Dossiers Digitalwende am Freitag, 3. Juli 2026 veröffentlicht.

sueddeutsche.de

Ireland's Taoiseach (Prime Minister) had to respond to my piece in The Guardian yesterday morning. But...

Tomorrow, Ireland takes over as EU Council Presidency for six months, when the EU is renegotiating tech and tax rules. In The Guardian this morning I argue it must recuse itself from these discussions because it is so captured by big tech. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Ireland is big tech’s lapdog – and that compromises its EU presidency | Johnny Ryan

The country is dependent on the global giants that call Dublin home. Irish ministers can’t be trusted to chair vital European digital sovereignty talks, says Irish civil liberties campaigner Johnny Ry...

theguardian.com

I am very happy to announce that we have appointed Louise Hooper as Enforce's new AI expert. Louise was a barrister at top London set Garden Court Chambers for more than two decades, and has joined us full time. enforce.ie/staff/louise...

Louise Hooper appointed AI Expert - Enforce

Enforce has appointed Louise Hooper as AI Expert. She was previously a barrister at London's Garden Court Chambers for two decades.

enforce.ie

A year ago today I said it would not be necessary to contemplate child social media ban if we had faith in our regulators or tech. Strong tools exist but go unused: -AI Act Art 1(b) -GDPR Art 8 and 9 -AVMSD Art 28 (b)(1) -DSA (interim measures, crisis response mechanism) www.iccl.ie/digital-data...

ICCL Enforce calls for digital enforcement to protect children - Irish Council for Civil Liberties

Remarks of Johnny Ryan at the Media, Internet & Data Protection Bar Association. He called for enforcement of regulation against tech firms.

iccl.ie

The fantastic @caoilfhionn.bsky.social is interviewing former President of Ireland Mary McAleese on stage at ICCL’s 50th anniversary conference right now.

EU, tech law CJEU: Member States can require age verification for porn, and ban rebroadcast of traffic cop information also ***a website that controls what viewers see via an algorithm is liable for the content*** curia.europa.eu/site/upload/...

3 day preliminary hearing in ICCL class action v Microsoft tomorrow. In Ireland’s first ever class action, this hearing asks: who bears the burden of proof when big tech uses your data in bizarre & hidden ways? Is it you or they who is required to be transparent about it? enforce.ie/digital-data...

Preliminary hearing on burden of proof - Enforce

Class action will target “Real-Time Bidding” (RTB) data breach in Microsoft’s advertising system, and is anticipated to affect Microsoft’s operations across the EU

enforce.ie

3 day preliminary hearing in ICCL class action v Microsoft starts tomorrow. In Ireland’s first ever class action, this hearing asks: who bears the burden of proof when big tech uses your data in bizarre & hidden ways? Is it you or they who is required to be transparent about it? @iccl.bsky.social

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I’m making a text adventure game. You wake up on a bench in 2026. You are Paul Baran. Your last memory is 1970. The game is called “A little caution”.

Bravo UK CMA arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...

Google ordered to put clearer links in AI search and let UK publishers opt out

Google must change AI Overviews after claiming users don't want "lots of sources."

arstechnica.com

I told Reuters last week that Meta's new employee-surveillance-to-train-AI-to-replace-employees (apparently called the "Model Capability Initiative") is a sign of what is to come every worker, everywhere. We want to hear from Meta employees. www.reuters.com/business/met...

We are delighted to announce the appointment of @johnnyryan.bsky.social to Adjunct Full Professor at the UCD Centre for Digital Policy! Johnny is a globally recognised expert and scholar whose work and litigation has influenced digital law and policy in Europe and the United States.

Johnny Ryan - UCD Centre for Digital Policy

Dr Johnny Ryan (FRHistS) is the Director of Enforce, ICCL's unit holding Big Tech to account under European law. He is the architect of class-action

digitalpolicy.ie

Today I ‘interviewed’ Facebook whistleblower on stage at Hay…& she couldn’t say a word. Facebook took legal action to prevent her speaking. What pathetic, pointless vindictiveness. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Meta legal action forces Facebook whistleblower to sit in silence at Hay festival

Sarah Wynn-Williams did not speak during event after lawyers warned of possible sanctions from tech firm

theguardian.com

"U.S. forces deployed to war zones have ​been targeted using commercially available location data" Just like I, @johnnyryan.bsky.social and others warned. US Senator Wyden says it's time to "start treating the adtech industry as a national security threat". Agreed. www.reuters.com/business/med...

Exclusive: Pentagon says US military personnel are reportedly being targeted using location data

It's an illustration of how the global surveillance ‌economy is shaping the battlefield.

reuters.com

Reminder: Adtech is dangerous. New story, same problem. www.reuters.com/business/med... 9 years since I blew the whistle. 8 years since formal complaint to Irish DPC (which supervises Google and others across all of Europe). Senator Wyden's letter today --> www.documentcloud.org/documents/28...

Exclusive: Pentagon says US military personnel are reportedly being targeted using location data

It's an illustration of how the global surveillance ‌economy is shaping the battlefield.

reuters.com

I spoke to @alejandrotauber.bsky.social of @euobserver.com about how Europe's "Ireland problem" could lead to tech disaster for our children, industry, and politics euobserver.com/218368/dubli...

Dublin ‘can’t trust itself to do the right thing’: Why Irish EU presidency should recuse itself from regulating Big Tech

On 1 July this year, Ireland takes the rotating EU presidency and agenda powers on the crown jewels of EU tech laws: "That should make you worried," says activist Johnny Ryan.

euobserver.com