(Bloomberg) — Amazon.com Inc. spent a record $4.98 million on lobbying during the second quarter of this year as momentum intensified in Congress to pass legislation intended to crack down on technology giants.
Amazon’s lobbying expenditures increased 2.5% over the second quarter of 2021, according to disclosure reports filed on Wednesday. Spending by the e-commerce behemoth was up only slightly from the first three months, when it shelled out a previous record of $4.97 million on lobbying.
The major tech companies and their trade groups spent $17.3 million on lobbying in Washington during the second quarter of this year, seeking to fend off legislation that could force them to fundamentally change their business practices.
The industry in the last quarter outspent one of Washington’s biggest donors: top pharmaceutical companies and their major trade group, which spent nearly $16 million, according to a Bloomberg tally of the top five US firms and their leading trade group.
Overall, the four biggest technology companies and their third-party groups spent $35.3 million during the first half of 2022, a 15% increase over $30.5 million in the first half of last year.
The legislation, championed by Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Representative David Cicilline of Rhode Island, would prohibit the largest tech companies from using their dominant platforms to disadvantage competitors. Another bill would ease Apple Inc. and Google’s grip over the app ecosystem, forcing iPhone and Android makers to open up their platforms to third-party app stores and apps. The giants — Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc., Meta Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google — have spent tens of millions of dollars on lobbying to crush the legislative effort.
The spotlight is now on Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who hasn’t scheduled a floor vote for the bills despite pledging to do so earlier his summer. Antitrust advocates have escalated a pressure campaign against Schumer, participating in stunts like playing ads in front of Schumer’s homes in New York and Washington.
It’s unclear whether Congress will pass the legislation before the August recess. Still, the threat has caused a flurry of opposition as the companies spend tens of millions on advertising campaigns, funnel money into front groups and deploy their top executives to appeal to lawmakers directly.
Two top tech trade groups, Netchoice and Technet, both spent more more on lobbying in the second quarter than a year ago. Netchoice, a right-leaning trade association that counts Amazon, Google and Meta among its members, spent $120,000, up about 200% from $40,000 in last year’s second quarter. Technet spent $300,000 in the three months ending in June, up 42.9% from the same period last year.
Apple spent $1.9 million, a decrease from its record $2.5 million outlay during the first three months of the year.
Google spent $2.77 million, marking a 32% increase from a year earlier and a 6.4% decrease from $2.96 million in the first three months of the year.
Microsoft Corp., which has differentiated itself from its peers by not opposing the antitrust legislation, spent $2.41 million on lobbying in the second quarter, a 2.4% decrease since last year.
At the same time, Huawei Technologies Co., the embattled Chinese tech giant, decreased its Washington spending in the same period, doling out $750,000, a roughly 29% drop from the second quarter of last year.
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