L AST BY TE
0
100
200
300
400
$500 M.
YEARLY LOBBYING
AMOUNTS FOR
SELECTED TECH
COMPANIES
TECH*
COMPANIES’
LOBBYING
EXPENDITURES
20
18
AM
OU
NT
$1 M. $5 M. $10 M. $20 M.
180
FORTUNE.COM // DECEMBER 2019
FACEBOOK FOUNDER
Mark Zuckerberg is no
stranger to the ways of
Washington, D.C. The billionaire
CEO has defended his company
in a series of public grillings by
Congress in recent years. Behind the
scenes, he’s also embraced a time-
honored practice for winning influence
inside the Beltway: splashing the cash. In the
first nine months of this year, Facebook spent
$12.3 million on lobbying, according to the Center
for Responsive Politics, well ahead of its 2018
pace. But Zuck is hardly alone. Over the past decade,
tech companies have increased their spending on
K Street by 14.7% to $428.8 million, compared with
a rise of just 4.5% across all industries. Here, some
of Big Tech’s biggest spenders. —BRIAN O’KEEFE
TECH DOES
K STREE T
GRAPHICS BY NICOLAS RAPP
SOURCE: CENTER FOR RESPONSIVE POLITICS * TECH DATA INCLUDES INTERNET,
COMMUNICATIONS, AND ELECTRONICS COMPANIES PLUS UBER AND LYFT. LOBBYING
AMOUNTS FOR ABOVE COMPANIES INCLUDE ONLY SUBSIDIARIES IN THE SAME INDUSTRY.
