The “Big Four” tech companies – Amazon, Google, Facebook and Apple – spent more than $55 million lobbying the federal government in 2021 to stave off antitrust legislation. That’s a $21 million increase over 2020, according to Politico Morning Tech.
Meta is now Facebook’s new name. Amazon has spent $19.3million, surpassing previous records. Google’s lobbying expenditures rose 27 percent, from $7.5 million to $9.5 million, year-over-year, “as the company has sought to fend off antitrust legislation,” Politico reported. Apple spent $6.5million last year.
The increase in companies’ direct spending on lobbying comes amid the December dissolution of the Internet Association, which was an advocacy group and at one time a prime lobbying vehicle for tech companies. Some tech companies pulled funding from the group due to conflicting priorities. These included mega-juggernauts Meta, Amazon and Apple.
According to the article, competing tech companies spent significant amounts lobbying in order to influence any legislation..
Among the most notable examples: Microsoft increased its spending 8 percent from $9.4 million to $10.2 million; Oracle boosted its spending about 12 percent from $8 million to $9.1 million; and, Epic Games registered its first in-house lobbyists in December, “reporting $40,000 in in-house lobbying spending,” according to the story. Epic continues to fight Apple in court after it claimed that Apple controls its App store as a monopoly.
“Overall, this spending pales in comparison to the tens of millions spent by Facebook, Amazon and Google,” the story said. “But it’s still notable that these companies are dialing up their presences in Washington, readying themselves for all the fights ahead.”
Many experts believe Congress will adopt bipartisan Big Tech accountability legislation in the coming year. This is despite having held numerous hearings and presented several bills related to this issue over recent months.
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