Tech companies are spending more on lobbying in Washington

23 Oct Tech companies are spending more on lobbying in Washington

Most tech giants spent an increasingly large amount of cash this quarter versus previous quarters lobbying U.S. officials on their various interests. Amazon, Google, and Twitter all saw their lobbying expenditures increase in the most recent quarter that just ended last month, Bloomberg reports. Among the major tech and communication companies that have reported their most recent lobbying expenses:

• Amazon spent $3.63 million – a company record
• Google spent $5.46 million – up 30% YOY
• Facebook spent $2.82 million – down $300,000
• Twitter spent $310,000 – up almost threefold
• Microsoft spent $2.24 million
• Oracle spent $1.44 million
• IBM spent $900,000
• AT&T spent $3.85 million
• Comcast spent $3.43 million
• Charter Communications spent $2.27 million
• Verizon spent just over $2.33 million

Amazon’s increased spending on lobbying can be attributed in part to the company trying to secure a $10 billion cloud-computing contract with the Pentagon. Google, Facebook, and Twitter meanwhile had to deal with increasing pressure from lawmakers about reining in election meddling on their platforms.

Source: Fast Company