Amazon, Meta set lobbying spending records in 2021 as Apple's decreased

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Amazon and Facebook parent company Meta spent a record amount of money lobbying the federal government in 2021, while Apple actually decreased its lobbying budget during the year.

According to The Hill, Amazon and its various subsidiary companies spent $20.3 million to lobby Congress, while Meta spent $20.1 million. Both tech juggernauts increased their lobbying spending by about 7% as they fought legislation aimed at reining in their market power.

Apple’s spending during the year decreased, however. The Cupertino tech giant spent $6.5 million to lobby policymakers in 2021, down from $6.7 million the year prior.

Google, on the other hand, spent $9.8 million to influence lawmakers in 2021. That doesn’t represent an annual record for the search giant, but it does represent a 27% year-over-year increase.

Amazon and Meta ranked as the top two individual companies as far as lobbying spending.

Despite the smaller lobbying budget in lobbying, Apple has still publicly voiced its opposition to several antitrust bills making their way through Congress. In a letter to lawmakers earlier in January, Apple said that the bills, which could force it to change App Store rules, would harm consumer security and privacy.

The iPhone also undertook several “aggressive” lobbying campaigns in 2021 at the state level to counter bills that targeted the App Store. Most of those lobbying campaigns were successful, with antitrust legislation dying out in Georgia, Arizona, and North Dakota.