If you live outside the United States, lobbying with the government and politicians is often known as a form of corruption, and it might become a big scandal if it gets exposed to the media. However, in the United States, lobbying with the government and lawmakers is actually legal. There are even companies and individuals who can willingly do that for you in exchange for a sum of money.
Companies, particularly those in the tech industry, engage in lobbying to safeguard their interests and ensure that upcoming legislation aligns with their business goals. The scale of lobbying by these tech giants is significant, with substantial amounts of money being invested in these efforts.
OpenSecrets, a website that tracks and publishes data on campaign finance and lobbying, has published detailed reports about lobbying efforts by some Big Tech firms. Let’s see how much these giant tech firms have spent on lobbying in 2024:
Apple Inc:
- Total lobbying expenditures: $7,820,000
- Top 3 bills lobbied by Apple Inc.: American Innovation and Choice Online Act, A bill to amend title 35, United States Code, Advancing America’s Interests Act.
Meta:
- Total lobbying expenditures: $24,430,000
- Top 3 bills lobbied by Meta: Kids Online Safety Act, EARN IT Act of 2023, STOP CSAM Act of 2023
Microsoft Corp:
- Total lobbying expenditures: $10,353,764
- Top 3 bills lobbied by Microsoft Corp: Kids Online Safety Act, Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act, Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2025.
Amazon:
- Total lobbying expenditures: $19,140,000
- Top 3 bills lobbied by Amazon: Department of Defense Appropriations Act, Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement, and National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025, COOL Online Act.
OpenAI:
- Total lobbying expenditures: $1,760,000
- Top 3 bills lobbied by OpenAI: Protect Elections from Deceptive AI Act, Artificial Intelligence Research, Innovation, and Accountability Act of 2024, and the CREATE AI Act of 2024.
Alphabet Inc:
- Total lobbying expenditures: $14,860,000
- Top 3 bills lobbied by Alphabet Inc.: Kids Online Safety Act, Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act, EARN IT Act of 2023.
Samsung Group:
- Total lobbying expenditures: $6,980,000
- Top 3 bills lobbied by Samsung Group: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024, Stop EV Freeloading Act, National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025.
What do you think about corporations lobbying the government? Should this process be made illegal?
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