Google spent a record $16.83 million last year and surpassed telecom giant Comcast for the first time in lobbying the federal government, according to a new Consumer Watchdog report analyzing records filed with the .
They ve been very concerned about privacy regulations. They ve been active in the space about net neutrality, said John Simpson, Consumer Watchdog s privacy director, in an interview Wednesday with the Mercury News. They ve just, I think, got the money to throw around and pressure policymakers the way they want to go.
Google s lobbying of federal regulators and lawmakers grew by 20 percent from 2013. Comcast was close behind at $16.8 million, but down 10 percent from the previous year.
Once considered Democrat-leading, Google has increasingly sought to influence both sides of the aisle, hiring as its top lobbyist Susan Molinari, a former GOP congresswoman, in 2013. Simpson said his figures also don t count all the soft lobbying Google and other tech companies do when they bankroll like-minded think-tanks and other organizations.
Simpson said the amount of money spent by tech and communications companies is outrageous and should concern the public.
Policy-making isn t about big ideas, it s about big bucks, he said. Google doesn t do anything unless it benefits their own bottom-line. They might put it in the guise of Don t be Evil, but they re much more ruthless and calculating than people understand.
Here is Consumer Watchdog s list of the 2014 lobbying amounts for five other tech firms:
- Cisco spent in 2014, a 25 percent decrease from in 2013. Fourth quarter spending was vs. a decrease of 65 percent.
- IBM spent in 2014 a 30 percent decrease from in 2013. Fourth quarter spending was vs. , a decrease of 39 percent.
- Intel spent in 2014, a 13 percent decrease from in 2013. Fourth quarter spending was vs. vs., a decrease of 32 percent.
- Oracle spent a decrease of 3 percent from $5.99 million in 2013. Fourth quarter spending was vs. , an increase of 4 percent.
- Yahoo spent in 2014, an increase of 6 percent from in 2013. Fourth quarter spending was vs. , an increase of 3 percent.
Above: The elevator at Google s Washington, D.C., headquarters is on Jan. 8, 2015. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
