Google Spends Dollars On Lobbying Costs. Facebook, Amazon Follow Close On Its Heels

Technology companies from the United States face more and more stringent scrutiny from the regulatory bodies that carry keep an eye on maintenance of privacy and control as well as market control. As a result of this, these companies are spending a hefty sum of money in trying to influence the lawmakers. And is it Google, which is paying the highest amount of money amongst the American companies.

As per the figures released by the Centre for Responsive Politics, Google had spent a whopping $21.7 million for lobbying in the year 2018. For two consecutive years the company has been the topmost spender among the leading global corporate giants, toppling other biggies like Amazon, Facebook, AT&T, and Boeing. Besides, Google has also reached a record amount, when it comes to shelling out expenses for lobbying last year.

The concept of lobbying by the leading tech players of the market has seen a smart rise during the last few years and this trend at present is quite steeper than what it was during the first decade of this millennium. 10 years back, in 2019 Google had spent only $4 million for lobbying, a figure that has seen a five-times increase in 2018, as per the figures released by the Centre for Responsive Politics.

Amazon has spent $14.4 million as lobbying expenses in 2018 and Facebook shelled out $12.6 million for the same purpose last year. Costs for lobbying that Facebook incurred since 2016 saw a rise of 45%, which was 6 times more than what it was in 2009. Amazon’s expenditure saw an increase to 27% since the last two years, which is an almost 8 times increase since the last decade.

Microsoft shelled out $9.6 million for lobbying, which rose from $8.7 million since 2017. Apple, on the other hand, had spent $6.68 million in 2018, which was a slight fall since 2017, though it was still way up from 2016.