The fact that most major tech companies are headquartered in Silicon Valley doesn’t mean they don’t make themselves heard in Washington as well. According to documents filed with the Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives, companies such as Google, Facebook and Amazon spent millions over the past twelve months trying to influence D.C. lawmakers.
Interestingly, the quarterly filings not only reveal how much the companies spent on their lobbying efforts, they also provide us with information on which issues were of particular interest to each company. Take Google for example: having been among the country’s largest lobbying spenders for years now, the company’s representatives in Washington had a busy year tackling a wide range of issues. Google’s areas of interest ranged from more obvious topics such as privacy, cyber security and autonomous driving to surprising ones such as wind power.
Today’s chart provides an overview of how much money some of Silicon Valley’s powerhouses spent on lobbying in 2015. For additional information please refer to the official database.
Lobbying Expenditure by U.S. Tech Companies
