Google , Facebook , and Amazon got more asshole than ever from Washington last class , all while spending disc amount lobbying lawmakers . New filing reveal that altogether the three companies drop more than $ 48 million in a year pocked withcongressional hearings , revelations regardingRussian interference , and small concrete progress by lawmakers who are assign young pressure on America ’s tech giants .
Google execute the pack with $ 21.2 million spent in 2018 , of which $ 4.9 million was spent in the last three months of the year , according to afederal lobbying disclosure reportfiled on Tuesday . This quiver Google ’s previous record of $ 18 million spent in 2017 . According to the filing , some of the issues Google threw money at included on-line advertising regulations , seclusion and data security issues , data breach , cybersecurity , orbicular swap and duty , the opioid crisis , immigration , cloud computing , and “ policies on online controversial subject matter . ”
Meanwhile , Facebook spent $ 12.6 million in 2018 , with $ 2.83 million coming in the quaternary quarter . That ’s up from the roughly $ 11.5 million it spent in 2017 , andaccording to the filings , a good clump of its lobbying efforts was spend on data concealment , cybersecurity , encryption , and on-line advertising transparency . That ’s no surprise considering thegarbage fire that was Facebook ’s 2018 , thanks in large part to the monumental fallout of the Cambridge Analytica dirt .
Amazon also expend a record $ 14.2 million in 2018 , flap the $ 12.8 million it lobbed at Washington in 2017 . The retail giantdisclosed it spent $ 3.71 millionin the 4th quarter , again targeting issues like datum privacy , but also postal reform , swarm computing , and Internet of Things security . This all tracks with Amazon ’s gelt and butter World Wide Web services and smart home products , as well as Trump ’s tweet that arrogate the on-line retailer isswindling the U.S. Postal Service . Amazon may not have come up under quite as much fire last year , but it is move one of it two unexampled military headquarters toCrystal City , Virginia — a Harlan Fiske Stone ’s cam stroke from Washington DC .
round out the big five , pass from Apple and Microsoft look low-spirited - paint by comparison . Apple spend $ 6.6 million , while Microsoft spent $ 9.5 million — both a decrease from 2017 .
The increased expenditure is a good indicator that some of the largest tech goliath are unnerved by increase scrutiny from Washington . As they should be — that scrutiny is n’t probable to let up in 2019 . Just in December , Senate Democrats introduceda new billthat would nurse company responsible for protecting individual data like more heavily regulated institutions such as banks and hospitals .
[ Washington Post , Bloomberg ]
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