It looks like Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) is going head-to-head with Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) for influence in Washington. House.gov reports that Google spent $3.8 million on tech lobbying. Giving it the lead, in lobbying, over Facebook. Microsoft came in second, then Facebook third, Apple fourth and Amazon fifth. This is since 2011.
That is not stopping Facebook though. The company spent $2.8 million in tech lobbying, which is a record for the company. This is almost double what Facebook spent the previous quarter. However, it was also due to stock-based compensation sent to its lobbyists. The stock was vested in the first quarter, so its earnings had to be reported.
Even though Google is ahead of all the other tech companies, when it comes to lobbying, it is still down from 2012. That is when the Federal Trade Commission put the company under an antitrust investigation. Nonetheless, it still lobbies for consumer privacy issues, government surveillance, patent reform, telecom policy and recently, healthcare.
It wants the government to look into advanced sensor-based technologies, such as the contact lens it is developing with a camera embedded inside it. The lens will need approval by the Food and Drug Administration.
On the other hand, Facebook lobbies congress over immigration. It is well known that Mark Zuckerberg wants more leniency around hiring non-U.S. citizens. In addition, Facebook has also lobbied with regard to the implementation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.
During the first quarter, the biggest tech lobbyists were Google, and then Facebook. After that, it was Microsoft at $2.1 million, and then Oracle at $1.5 million. Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) spend $50,000, and this will be its third quarter lobbying.
