Executive Summary

In recent years, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google have all come under increased scrutiny for threatening our privacy, democracy, small businesses, and workers.

In the race to amass monopoly power in their respective markets, these corporations have developed predatory business practices that harvest user data for profit and facilitated discrimination by race, religion, national origin, age, and gender. Facebook and Google have wielded unprecedented influence over our democratic process. Amazon has been accused of subjecting workers to unsafe working conditions during COVID-19, while the plurality of its workforce is Black, brown, and/or non-white. All of these companies have killed, rather than fostered innovation.

Increased investments in Washington have allowed these monopolists to harm consumers, workers, and other businesses alike, with relatively little accountability to date. A report Public Citizen released in 2019 (covering up to the 2018 election cycle) detailed how Big Tech corporations have blanketed Capitol Hill with lobbyists and lavished members of Congress with campaign contributions.

This is an update of that report, based on data provided by the Center for Responsive Politics. Since the 2020 election cycle has ended, Public Citizen

reevaluated Big Tech’s influence over the government by analyzing the tech

companies’ lobbying spending and campaign contributions.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 4

INTRODUCTION 6

SETTING NEW RECORDS 7

BIG TECH CORPORATIONS ARE NOW WASHINGTON’S BIGGEST SPENDERS 7

BIG TECH ECLIPSES BIG OIL AND BIG TOBACCO AS BIG LOBBYING SPENDERS 8

OVERALL TRENDS 10

1. BIG TECH SPENT $124 MILLION DURING THE 2020 ELECTION CYCLE 10

The foundation of Big Tech’s spending: $108 million in lobbying 11

Big Tech poured $16.5 million into 2020 campaigns 13

2. BIG TECH HIRED AN ARMY OF REVOLVING DOOR LOBBYISTS 14

Amazon’s head of policy is tenured in Biden-world 14

Apple’s former policy head has already joined Biden’s team 15

Facebook moves to swap out Republican lobbyists with Democrats 15

Google hired Democratic operative and former Obama staffer 16

Big Tech lobbyists are among the biggest spenders in Washington 16

3. BIG TECH SHELLED OUT FOR 94% OF KEY LEGISLATORS 17

OTHER STRATEGIES 19

FUNDING PRO BIG TECH RESEARCH AND WRITING 20

USING ADVERTISEMENTS TO CHANGE PUBLIC PERCEPTION 21

BATTLING IN STATE HOUSES FOR LANDMARK LEGISLATION 22

APPENDIX 27

https://www.citizen.org/article/big-tech-lobbying-update/

Continue reading below