Mar 29, 2021 08:00:00

It turns out that Facebook and Amazon are investing more than 2 billion yen in lobbying activities, what is the actual situation of lobbying activities by Big Tech?

In the United States, it is known that

big tech such as Facebook and Amazon are investing huge amounts of money in lobbying. Public Citizen , a consumer organization based in the United States, is investigating details of lobbying activities conducted by Facebook, Amazon, Google, and Apple in 2020. As a result, it turns out that Facebook and Amazon are investing more than 2 billion yen in lobbying.

Big Tech, Big Cash: Washington's New Power Players --Public Citizen
https://www.citizen.org/article/big-tech-lobbying-update/

Below is a ranking of the amount of money American companies have invested in lobbying in 2010, 2017, and 2020 published by Public Citizen. Facebook and Amazon weren't in the top eight in 2010 and 2017, but were ranked first and second in 2020. Also. Public Citizen said, 'Most of the top eight companies in 2020 are still in the top eight in 2017. This is why Facebook and Amazon are rapidly spending money on lobbying. You can see that we have increased it. '

Here is a summary of the 'amounts invested in lobbying' by the top eight companies. Facebook has invested $ 1.68 million and Amazon has invested $ 18.72 million in lobbying. Also in 3rd place

With Comcast spending $ 14.43 million on lobbying, Public Citizen said, 'Facebook and Amazon are spending an overwhelming amount of money on lobbying compared to other companies.' I point out.

The graph below shows Facebook (dark orange), Amazon (light orange), major oil company

Exxon (dark gray), and major cigarette maker Philip Morris (light gray) lobbying from 2010 to 2020. It shows the transition of the amount. Looking at the graph, as of 2010, Facebook and Amazon were spending less on lobbying than Ericsson and Philip Morris were spending on lobbying, but as of 2020, Facebook and Amazon were spending less. You can see that he is now spending about twice as much as Exxon and Philip Morris. Public Citizen said, 'Before big tech lobbying was active, the oil and tobacco industries were prominent in lobbying. Big tech was often lobbying in big tech. I think it's because they are facing legal and regulatory issues. '

The graph below shows the number of lobbyists hired by Amazon (bottom), Google (second from bottom), Facebook (third from bottom), and Apple (top) from 2010 to 2020. is showing. The number of lobbyists employed by Big Tech is on the rise, and as of 2020, four companies employ a total of 333 lobbyists.

Also, among the lobbyists who were active in 2020, the list of the top 10 people who invested the most in lobbying is like this. You can see that 5 of the top 10 lobbyists were funding on behalf of Big Tech.

Below, the members of the House Judiciary Committee, the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the Senate Judiciary Committee, and the Senate Commercial Science and Transportation Committee are Big Tech's Political Action Committee (dark green) and lobbyists (light green). It is a graph showing the amount of political contribution received from (green). According to Public Citizen, 134 out of 142 members of these committees (about 94%) received political contributions from Big Tech, for a total of $ 3.2 million. It is said that it will exceed.

Also, the breakdown of the amount of money received by the Democratic Party (blue) and Republican Party (red) members in each committee is like this. The House Energy and Commerce Committee and the Senate Commercial Science and Transportation Committee seem to have less bias, but the House Judiciary Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee have a large bias between the Democratic Party and the Republican Party.

Public Citizen argues that the active lobbying of Big Tech 'has exacerbated social issues that require political response.' We are asking Big Tech to reduce the political action committee and disclose the details of political contributions.