“Fight for Us, Not for Them”: A Public Interest Vision for EU Tech Policy — programme and new speakers announced
As EU digital policy faces growing pressure from deregulation and “simplification” agendas, civil society experts, lawmakers, regulators, and journalists are coming together in Brussels and online to make the case for a bold public-interest vision of technology policy: one that protects people, communities, democracy, and our fundamental rights.
Updated speaker line-up
We will be joined by speakers including Anita Gurumurthy, executive director of IT for Change, Brando Benifei, Member of the European Parliament who co-led negotiations on the AI Act, Diana Vlad-Câlcic, team leader for regulatory simplification at the European Commission (DG CONNECT), Thomas Le Bonniec, researcher and Apple whistleblower, Helena Malikova, lead for the intelligence team in foreign subsidies at the European Commission (DG COMP), Max Schulze, director of Leitmotiv Digital, and Dr. Corrine Cath, interim director of digital at ARTICLE 19 and researcher at Cambridge University to discuss practical alternatives that protect fundamental rights and promote the public interest.
The discussions will be moderated by author and journalist Dave Keating and will conclude with a speech and interactive Q&A from Professor Shoshana Zuboff, thought leader and author of ‘The Age of Surveillance Capitalism’.
We’ll also welcome you to a showcase of tech for the public interest, featuring companies like Tournesol and Murena, which will make the business case for the public interest and fair markets.
Hosted by 13 civil society organisations, the summit will explore the Digital Omnibus, the Digital Fitness Check, the future of EU digital regulation, and practical alternatives to deregulation that support innovation without weakening rights. Explore the programme for the day:
Event details:
- When: Tuesday 23 June 2026, 2pm-6pm CET, with a reception for in-person attendees from 6pm-7.30pm
- Where: Brussels European quarter* and online
- How: You can register to join the event online here
The in-person event is invite-only. If you have any questions, please send us a message at .
This event is co-hosted by Ada Lovelace Institute, ARTICLE19, BEUC, CDT Europe, Check My Ads, Civil Liberties Union for Europe (Liberties), Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO), Digitale Gesellschaft, European Digital Rights (EDRi), Greenpeace, People vs Big Tech, petites singularites and Stichting Data Bescherming Nederland (SDBN).