How The Biggest Tech Companies Spent Half A Billion Dollars Lobbying Congress

From 2005 to 2018, the five biggest technology firms in the United States have spent more than half a billion dollars lobbying Congress, according to a. Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft have collectively thrown $582 million at legislators in an attempt to influence the lawmaking process and make sure their voices are taken into account.

In an analysis of lobbying submissions filed by the Big Five, researchers at vpnMentor were able to determine the areas that companies care about most. For example, Facebook and Google have taken a keen interest in privacy. Google has mentioned the topic in 64 percent of its lobbying reports, while it appears in 61 percent of the reports from Facebook.

on Capitol Hill that it requires at least some location data to provide its services, even when users try to opt out of having their location information used or collected.U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation in a stand-off over encrypted data on an iPhone seized from terrorists whoin 2015. However, the company does have its own interests at heart elsewhere, and it's pet project according to lobbying records appears to be taxes.

Last year, Apple agreed to pay $38 billion in taxes to the U.S. Treasury to bring cash back to the country's shores—a steep discount on the $78.6 billion it would have owed in corporate income tax if it would have repatriated that money sooner. Apple waited until the Trump administration's new tax code created a friendlier environment to bring that money back, and CEO Tim Cook got awhile saving $40 billion in tax obligations.

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