It has been exactly one year since President Donald Trump took office, and there have since been many moments where tech giants have lobbied against the new administration’s immigration policies, regulations, and more. Though Amazon and Facebook were the leading spenders in these battles last year, Microsoft also turned out big numbers, spending $8.5 million towards lobbying the US Government in 2017 (via recode.net)
According to data from the House and Senate lobbying records, Microsoft’s $8.5 million total spent towards lobbying the US Government is roughly the same amount recorded between 2014-2016, but down from 2013 when the company spent almost $10 million in lobbying. It is also well behind the amount spent by other tech giants in 2017, as Amazon tallied up $12.8 million in lobbying, and Facebook spent $11.5 million on lobbying. Apple, meanwhile, spent $7 million towards lobbying the US government.
In the United States, lobbying is an activity where special interests groups and companies can hire lawyers to argue for specific legislation in Congress that would benefit the group or company. For example, Microsoft was a strong opponent of the Trump Administration’s travel ban and also lobbied for legislation to protect DACA recipients.
