Google Increased US Lobbying Spending 27% as Reg Pressure Grew: Report

Google reported that it increased U.S. lobbying by 27 percent in 2021 as legislators began to push for new legislation to regulate tech.

Google, owned by Alphabet Inc. increased its lobbying expenses, according to Reuters. This was during a period when U.S. senators from both the federal and state level began advocating for legislation to tighten regulation of Big Tech. According to Reuters’s source, a Senate lobbying database was used as the source. The Big Tech giant spent $9.6million on U.S. Lobbying in 2021.

Google spent $20 million more in lobbying than it did before. According to Reuters, its 2020 lobbying expenses were $7.53million. “Google’s lobbying spend dipped in 2020 as it restructured its government relations teams.”

Major tech companies including Google, Apple, Amazon and Meta’s platform Facebook are increasingly feeling the heat from lawmakers seeking to break up the companies’ immense power and control. 

Some Republican senators, such as Sen. Ted Cruz (Republican from Texas), are worried about Big Tech increasing its censorship and freedom of speech. But most legislation at the moment is antitrust. Yesterday, Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) approved the American Innovation and Choice Online Act. This bill, which was bipartisan, is designed to prevent Big Tech companies from prioritizing its own products on platforms. 

Cruz, one of the supporters of the antitrust legislation, slammed Big Tech yesterday for something he said should be the greater focus — free speech online. Cruz told the Committee, “I think Big Tech censorship is the single greatest threat to free speech in America, and it is the single greatest threat to free and fair elections in America.” 

Big Tech seems to be concerned over the lawmakers’ efforts. In addition to Google’s lobbying spending increase, recently, both Google and Amazon reportedly enlisted small vendors who use their platforms to warn lawmakers against supporting antitrust legislation.

Conservatives under attack. Get in touch with your senators and representatives to demand protection of conservative speech. The First Amendment should be respected by tech giants. It must also allow users to express themselves freely as interpreted and enforced by the U.S. Supreme Court. If you have been censored, contact us using CensorTrack’s Contact formPlease help us make Big Tech more accountable.