The head of a key pan-European industry group has sharply criticised intensifying pressure from US lobbyists on behalf of Google and Facebook to relax EU privacy laws to suit Silicon Valley businesses.

Google, Facebook, Yahoo and several other top US tech companies, with the help of the Obama administration, have been increasing pressure on European lawmakers. They want standardised privacy laws across borders to make their business operations flow more easily, which would mean more lax EU legislation at a time when the bloc is proposing exactly the opposite.

Jacob Kohnstamm, chairman of the Industry Coalition for Data Protection known as the Article 29 Working Party, told the Financial Times that European lawmakers were “fed up” with US tech companies trying to put their corporate interests ahead of laws that protect what Europe sees as fundamental rights.