Federal filings show that Google spent about $150 million (USD) on lobbying in the United States over the past decade.
The next-biggest tech spenders on government lobbying in the last 10 years: Facebook spent about $81 million, and Amazon spent nearly $80 million.
Reports Tony Romm for The Washington Post:
The data — culled from the companies’ required filings to the government, including new reports made public late Tuesday — tell the story of a sector that increasingly has tapped its deep pockets to beat back regulatory threats and boost its bottom line. Despite massive scandals that exposed users’ personal information and left democratic elections in digital disarray, Congress has failed to adopt new laws to limit the industry — a reality some critics attribute in part to the Silicon Valley’s evolving lobbying prowess.
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Facebook, for example, spent almost $81 million in the nation’s capital between 2010 and 2019, according to new lobbying records as well as historical data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics. That includes nearly $17 million last year, its highest amount ever, as it sought to assuage federal regulators who were furious at Facebook’s failures to protect users’ data, crack down on dangerous content and stop the spread of viral misinformation ahead of the 2020 presidential election. The company declined comment for this story.
Apple, Google, Microsoft, Twitter and Uber, which were included in the analysis, also declined comment.
