Google disclosed in a quarterly filing that it spent a company record of $21.2 million on lobbying the US government in 2018, topping its previous high of $18.22 million in 2012, as the search engine operator fights wide ranging scrutiny into its doings.
It is not the only one. Facebook has revealed that it 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 centre’s data.
US lawmakers and regulators have weighed new privacy and antitrust rules to rein in the power of large internet service providers such as Google, Facebook and Amazon. Regulatory backlash in the United States, as well as Europe and Asia, is near the top of the list of concerns for technology investors, according to financial analysts.
Microsoft 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 bills in 2013.
Apple spent $6.62 million last year, compared to its record of $7.15 million in 2017, according to centre data going back to 1998.
Google disclosed that new discussion topics with regulators in the fourth quarter included its search technology, criminal justice reform and international tax reform. The company is perennially among the top spenders on lobbying in Washington along with a few cable operators, defence contractors and healthcare firms.
Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai said the company backs the idea of national privacy legislation. But he has contested accusations of the company having a political bias in its search results and of stifling competition.
Susan Molinari, Google’s top US public policy official, stepped down to take on an advisory role this month.
Facebook said discussing “election integrity” with national security officials was among its new lobbying areas in the fourth quarter. The filing said the company continued to lobby the Federal Trade Commission, which is investigating its data security practices.
