SECOND TAKE
THE MERCURY NEWS: Big Tech, big spenders on lobbying
Technology firms used to avoid Washington, but the screws are tightening on their unethical practices
Facebook is now the biggest corporate lobbying spender in the US. How big? The tech titan spent $19.7m on lobbying in 2020, more than twice as much as Big Oil’s Exxon Mobil ($8.7m) and Big Tobacco’s Phillip Morris ($7m), according to a new report published by Public Citizen.
My, how things have changed. For decades tech firms largely ignored Washington politics with the hope they would be left alone. The tech industry spent less than $20m on lobbying as recently as 2010. No longer. In 2020 Big Tech spent $124m on lobbying and campaign contributions. In addition to Facebook, the list of tech lobbyists includes Amazon ($18m), Alphabet ($7.5m) and Apple ($6.7m)...
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