Every Year Big Tech Spends Big Bucks Lobbying The U.S. Government. What’s Not Wrong With This?

By B.N. Frank

A whole lot of Big Tech antitrust violation accusations have been made recently (1, 2, 3) so it’s not surprising to learn that Big Tech spends millions every year lobbying the U.S. government:

From Reuters:

Alphabet Inc’s Google disclosed in a quarterly filing on Tuesday that it spent a company-record $21.2 million on lobbying the U.S. government in 2018, topping its previous high of $18.22 million in 2012, as the search engine operator fights wide-ranging scrutiny into its practices.

In its filing to Congress on Tuesday, Facebook Inc disclosed that it also spent more on government lobbying in 2018 than it ever had before at $12.62 million. That was up from $11.51 million a year ago, according to tracking by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

Google’s spent $18.04 million on lobbying in 2017, according to the center’s data.

Microsoft Corp spent $9.52 million on lobbying in 2018, according to its disclosure on Tuesday, up from $8.5 million in 2017 but below its $10.5 million tab in 2013.

Apple Inc spent $6.62 million last year, compared to its record of $7.15 million in 2017, according to center data going back to 1998.

Thanks to the Center for Responsive Politics for keeping track of this and sharing – even though it is rather nauseating.

Image credit: TFTP