Macron, Google and Amazon: the documents the Élysée wanted to stay secret
By Alexandre Léchenet
The Élysée cited business confidentiality when it refused to provide Mediapart with correspondence between presidential advisors and Amazon, Google and others giants of the digital world dating from 2017. However, Mediapart pursued the matter and after a lengthy process the administrative court in Paris found in our favour and we now have access to these documents. Like the recent 'Uber Files' controversy, they show just how closely aligned the thinking and approach of these technological groups is with that of Macron and his entourage. And also like the Uber case, they reveal that a business lobbyist from one of the groups – in this case Amazon - took part in Emmanuel Macron's 2017 presidential campaign. Alexandre Léchenet reports.
The cult of secrecy in the upper echelons of the French state is not simply confined to its dealings with Uber. A few days ago, and after three years of administrative and legal attempts, Mediapart was finally granted access to correspondence between advisors to President Emmanuel Macron and lobbyists and executives from the group of giant companies known collectively as 'GAFAM' – Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft – from the second half of 2017.
