Fb and Amazon spent essentially the most on lobbying efforts in 2020: Report

  • Alphabet Inc. and Apple were also among the top funders in lobbying in 2020.
  • Spending is only part of the tech giants’ effort to earn goodwill in Washington.
  • Facebook said it will continue to express its support for new rules that “address today’s realities online”.
  • You can find more stories on the Business Insider homepage.

Facebook and Amazon were the biggest lobbying spend in 2020, spending more money Companies like AT&T and Boeing, according to an analysis by the Wall Street Journal.

The analysis examines reports from U.S. companies filed with Congress under the Lobbying Disclosure Act, a federal law that requires companies to disclose such expenses.

Facebook, the social media giant, spent around $ 20 million in 2020, an 18 percent year-over-year increase, while Amazon spent around $ 18 million, up 11 percent from 2019, according to the analysis.

Lobbying spending comes when the Democrats take control of both Houses of Congress. Some democratic lawmakers have called for increased regulation of the internet, social media platforms and e-commerce.

Facebook told the journal that it was open to new laws. “We were aware that the Internet needed updated regulations, so we will continue to advocate new rules that address today’s online realities,” said a spokesman.

Continue reading: Facebook and Google have agreed to help each other if they are under antitrust review

Amazon’s Washington, DC team is focused on ensuring the company is committed to issues that matter to policymakers, employees and customers, a company spokeswoman told the Journal.

Other companies like Apple Inc. announced that they spent $ 6.7 million on lobbying in 2020, a decrease of more than 10% from the previous year. Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent company, said it spent $ 7.5 million on lobbying.

In addition, Microsoft Corp. $ 9.4 million in 2020 lobbying, Oracle Corp. approximately $ 8.1 million, TikTok owner ByteDance Inc. $ 2.6 million and Twitter Inc. $ 1.5 million.

The Wall Street Journal’s analysis suggests that these spending is only part of an effort by Facebook, Amazon, Apple, and Alphabet to build goodwill in Washington.

Continue reading: The resolution of Facebook is on the table, says Letitia James, the New York attorney general who leads the antitrust case against Facebook

Google and Facebook are facing multiple antitrust lawsuits. In December, Facebook and Google agreed to help each other if they are being prosecuted. This emerges from a lawsuit published by the Wall Street Journal. The draft is a version of the antitrust lawsuit filed against Google by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Last week, New York attorney general Letitia James, who leads a number of states in antitrust proceedings against Facebook, said the company could be wound up because the company’s “monopoly hurts consumers and advertisers.”

In a report released in October, House Democrats also said Facebook, Apple, Google and Amazon need to be heavily regulated and possibly disbanded. The October report said all four companies are leveraging features that monopolize the market.

The report added that these “monopoly” functions should be regulated or possibly segregated from companies. These include Facebook’s collection of popular social media apps, Google’s dominance in search engines, Amazon’s control over the market, and Apple’s authority over the iOS App Store.

Although the Joe Biden administration hasn’t set an explicit tech agenda overseeing the sector, according to The Wall Street, Democrats in Congress are planning their own legislation on issues related to liability, antitrust, privacy, misinformation, and user-generated content diary.

These plans became more urgent after the January 6th uprising on Capitol Hill, which led Facebook and Amazon, among others, to suspend political donations.

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