How tech companies are working overtime to buy access and influence in Washington
The American people support meaningful guardrails to build a healthier online information environment that would protect our kids, buttress our national security, and strengthen our democracy. In 2024, advocates built in-roads at the state and federal levels to move technology reform efforts forward, demonstrating that there’s hope in holding Big Tech accountable.
At the same time, these companies are resorting to new levels of desperation, bending their own core values, and further enriching themselves. As a new Congress and new administration take the reins in the nation’s capital, one thing is certain: Tech giants want friends in high places, and these companies are working overtime to try to buy access and influence in Washington, D.C.
The stakes couldn’t be higher. These companies control what we see and hear online, and they collect massive amounts of information on all of us without clear accountability. They're working to shape laws and policies to protect their wealth and power, crushing competition, bending the rules in their favor instead of competing fairly, and fighting legal challenges brought by the U.S. government that, as the Tech Oversight Project notes, could disrupt their predatory business models. But the Trump administration could decide to completely change tack.
For instance:
Amazon is involved in an antitrust case with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over an alleged illegal monopoly and predatory pricing that the FTC says forced consumers to overpay for everyday goods. It is also involved in a separate lawsuit in which the FTC says Amazon duped millions of users into keeping subscriptions to Amazon Prime by creating a maze-like cancellation process designed to force users into giving up.
Meta (the parent company of Facebook and Instagram) is embroiled in litigation with the FTC for allegedly maintaining an illegal digital monopoly via its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, and the company is facing a separate FTC lawsuit over alleged repeated violations of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act.
And Google is involved in multiple illegal monopoly cases with the Justice Department. Last year, one month after a federal district court judge declared that Google’s search engine was an illegal monopoly, the company became embroiled in a separate antitrust lawsuit over its advertising technology.
All the while, Congress spent much of the past two years crafting and advancing new legislation designed to protect kids online, create data privacy safeguards, and guard against undue influence of foreign adversaries.
The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act — which requires owners of apps such as TikTok to divest foreign ownership or be shut down in the United States — was supported across bipartisan lines. This legislation, which was first introduced by a bipartisan coalition led by Reps. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), was unanimously approved last year by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and ultimately passed by bipartisan majorities in both the House and Senate.
Meanwhile, the Kids Online Safety Act passed the Senate with overwhelming bipartisan support in a 91-3 vote — though it did not receive a vote in the House of Representatives after a massive influence campaign by social media companies.
As Big Tech continues to wield their power and resources to impede guardrails that would hold them accountable, such commonsense protections now face unknown futures.
Big Tech cozies up with Washington
Against this backdrop, tech giants including Amazon, Meta, Google, and Microsoft sought to curry favor with the incoming administration, each giving $1 million to President Donald Trump’s inaugural committee. All the while Elon Musk, the executive chairman of X (formerly known as Twitter), contributed roughly $280 million to pro-Trump groups — spending more money in a single election cycle to influence an election than any other individual who wasn’t a self-funding candidate.
One of the first rewards for this fealty? Prime seats at Trump’s inauguration. While Trump supporters watched the ceremony miles away from Capitol Hill at Capital One Arena, Musk, Amazon Founder and Executive Chairman Jeff Bezos, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Meta Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, were seated alongside Trump Cabinet members.
As Big Tech cozies up to the new administration, new research by Issue One shows the industry’s influence in Washington has never been stronger.
In 2024, Meta, Alphabet (the parent company of Google and YouTube), Microsoft, ByteDance (the Chinese government-backed parent company of TikTok), X, and Snap (the parent company of Snapchat) combined to spend a staggering $61.5 million on lobbying — an increase of nearly 13% compared to spending in 2023. Their lobbying efforts were fueled by nearly 300 lobbyists — or one for every two members of Congress.
Meta alone spent a record $24.4 million on lobbying in 2024 — a 27% increase from what it spent on lobbying in 2023, and the most the company has spent on lobbying in any year since it first started federal lobbying in 2009.
The company’s 2024 lobbying efforts were powered by 65 lobbyists — one for every eight members of Congress.
Meanwhile, ByteDance spent a record $10.4 million on lobbying in 2024 — an approximately 19% increase from what it spent on lobbying in 2023, and the most the company has spent on lobbying in any year since it first hired federal lobbyists in 2019.
Its 2024 lobbying efforts were powered by 55 lobbyists — one for every 10 members of Congress.
It may not feel like good news when tech giants are spending record amounts in our nation’s capital as they attempt to curry access and influence with lawmakers. But bipartisan momentum is continuing to build to combat the toxic online information environment that hurts our kids, our national security, and our democracy.
Tech companies are showing they won’t go down without a fight, but neither will we, the people.
 | A guest post by
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 | A guest post by
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