Corporate capture refers to the mechanism by which large companies or private industry actors exert strong and undue influence on public institutions, regulatory frameworks, the law and public opinion.
Several examples of corporate capture include:
- lobbying that influences legislative drafting and rulings,
- recruitment by corporations or trade associations of former policymakers to profit from their networks, and monopolisation of discourse in spheres of influence, leading to the capture of institutions,
- image “laundering”, disinformation campaigns, and media capture, where political and economic interests influence the positioning of media outlets, impacting public opinion.
Capturing legislature: how the much-awaited European duty of vigilance was dashed, and the Nestlé Waters case
Nestlé Waters and the case of the illegal water filters
Water commercialised by Nestlé Waters presented as “mineral” and “natural” was in reality filtered with micro-filters banned due to increased risks of microbial contamination. Despite health warnings, an intense lobbying effort from Nestlé Waters led the French government to change its interpretation of a legal text to authorise the continued use of these filters for the corporation, prioritising private interests over public health.
A Senate inquiry committee was put in place to shed light on the political responsibilities in this matter.
The European Directive on Corporate Accountability
The European Directive on Corporate Accountability was adopted on April 24, 2024, after years of advocacy and negotiations by civil society actors. This directive was intended to create concrete obligations for European corporations to limit human rights and environmental violations in their global value chains, creating regulations and sanctions to guarantee its application and effectiveness.
However, the Omnibus proposal, recently put forward by the European Commission, modifies key elements of the European Directive on Corporate Accountability, ridding it of any substance. Under the guise of “simplification” for corporations, the text greatly reduces the field of application of the directive, undermining the measures put in place to increase corporate accountability.
This legislative retrogression is precisely the result of pressure from the powerful lobbies of multinational corporations, who claim that the duty of vigilance undermines corporate competitiveness and legal certainty.
As Reclaim Finance found, the Omnibus proposal is aligned, at least in part, with various demands from the French Banking Federation, the American Chamber of Commerce, and Business France, as well as three employers’ associations, the MEDEF, the Federation of German Industries (BDI), and Confindustria. Certain sections are identical to demands from these bodies, including the financial sector’s exclusion from the directive’s scope of application or the limitation of due diligence practices for direct trade partners.
By yielding to these pressures, the European Commission has paved the way for deregulation that will delay the ecological transition and allow harmful practices to continue with impunity.
Capturing public institutions: the cases of Castaner and McKinsey
Christopher Castaner, nominated to Shein’s CSR committee
On December 6, 2024, Christopher Castaner, former French Ministre de l’Intérieur (equivalent of a Home secretary), was named to a Strategic and Corporate Social Responsibility Committee of Shein, alongside Nicole Guedj, ex-State Secretary for victims’ rights, and Bernand Spitz, former director of the French Insurance Federation. Strategic and Corporate Social Responsibility Committee of Shein, alongside Nicole Guedj, ex-State Secretary for victims’ rights, and Bernand Spitz, former director of the French Insurance Federation.
Christopher Castaner’s nomination comes at a moment when he already holds several elected positions and has no expertise in CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) or the fashion sector. When asked about the news and their surprising nature, Castener responded that the company was democratising fashion and wished to engage with more virtuous ventures.
This appointment raises suspicions of illegitimate influence, with the concern being that it aims to use Castener’s network and political weight to weaken upcoming regulations on the environmental impact of fast fashion.
Revolving doors of elected European officials for Huawei’s profit
In March 2025, the press revealed new police searches related to suspicions of corruption of European parliamentarians, this time by Huawei. The investigation had uncovered compensation for political positions, excessive gifts (food or travel expenses, exclusive events), dissimulated financial flows and money laundering. The objective was to facilitate the access of the Chinese multinational to the European market and weaken any restrictions limiting its activities.
At the center of the story, “revolving doors”: a former European parliamentary assistant recruited by Huawei as Director of Public Affairs in Brussels.
This case illustrates the concrete risks of lobbying and poorly regulated porosity between the public and private sectors, leading in this situation to elements raising suspicions of corruption.
McKinsey scandal: the excessive use of consultancy firms
In 2021, the press revealed that massive contracts had been concluded between the French government and consultancy firms, including McKinsey, for public policy support missions concerning the Covid-19 vaccination. These revelations led to the creation of a Senate inquiry committee. Its report shows that the consultancy firms received more than a billion euros of public money in 2021, without their work necessarily being satisfactory, and while McKinsey does not pay taxes in France (1).
This phenomenon raises questions about the management of public money and the transparency of these practices. Additionally, it illustrates the state’s abdication of responsibility, gradually relinquishing some of its sovereign functions by entrusting essential missions to private actors. This transfer of responsibilities calls into question the independence of public policy decisions and weakens the democratic control over the management of public affairs.
A law proposal aiming to regulate the use of consultancy firms has been put on the legislative agenda and is still under review.
Capturing public opinion: image “laundering” and the Bolloré case
ESG as a reputational tool
The sector of ESG has developed considerably in the last decade, with companies increasingly presenting themselves as moral, socially conscious actors in relation to social or environmental causes. But these vague claims of irreproachability are often used to (re)brand their image. How? By highlighting ecological or social actions without these being truly or sufficiently integrated into their business model. This is what is called image “washing” or “laundering”, also known as fairwashing, which includes greenwashing or socialwashing.
By creating an illusion of social or environmental commitments, corporations manipulate public opinion by turning the attention away from the negative impact of their actions and the real issues. This way, multinationals influence the perception of investors, regulators and consumers by projecting a positive image. These practices allow them to maintain the appearance of conformity to social and environmental standards without creating actual change, all while protecting their activities and resulting profit.
The Bolloré media empire
In the last ten years, Vincent Bolloré has constructed a global media empire, controlling multiple TV stations, radios, journals, publishing houses, communication agencies and cultural spaces (2).
This concentration is criticised by researchers and journalists, who denounce a stranglehold on information, favouring far-right ideology (3). This weakens the pluralism of information, leading to a uniformity of content that facilitates control over public opinion. In response, civil society has mobilised to defend press freedom and the diversity of opinions across the French media and editorial landscape, with for example the Désarmer Bolloré campaign (4).
Bolloré’s empire is one example of the ideological strategies currently being deployed in France. Another is the Périclès Plan, developed by the billionaire Pierre-Edouard Stérin. The Périclès plan is a strategy aimed at favouring the electoral victory of the far-right in France. Its methods include, among other things, the training of future political leaders, the creation of think tanks, lawfare, and media influence, all supported by a budget of 150 million euros over ten years.
The dangers of corporate capture
When companies influence the drafting of laws to the point of controlling them, either by preventing them beforehand or shaping them to their benefit afterward, it skews the political decision-making process. Similarly, when they interfere in public institutions. This influence leads to a breach of equality between citizens, with the interests of economic actors being overrepresented.
When information and thus public opinion are manipulated, it is liberty of thought that is under attack.
Since companies are profit-driven by nature, the overrepresentation of corporate interests and opinions de facto favours their financial gain. In these circumstances, political decisions and information no longer serve public interest, endangering democracy.
Thus, corporate capture is a threat for equality, freedom of thought and, ultimately, democracy itself.
What does Sherpa do about it?
Sherpa fights the harmful influence of multinational corporations by:
- shedding light on the obstructive work of lobbies and advocating to policymakers for significantly stricter regulation of lobbying (5), going beyond mere transparency requirements to also place responsibility on political decision-makers;
- actively partaking in the legislative debate on regulating the use of consultancy firms (6), in order to ensure that the State retains its full sovereign function as legislator, rather than delegating it to private firms;
- exposing image “laundering” and taking legal actions (7) to sanction companies who engage in it;
- writing doctrinal articles to alert the judiciary to the flaws in audits as evidence (8), and simultaneously pointing out the inherent limits of self-regulation;
- compelling corporations who made CSR commitments to keep their promises via legal action (9);
- raising awareness on the importance of press freedom (10) and the ability of NGOs to initiate legal actions (11) to protect civil society’s independence and the rule of law.
