Google, Facebook Set 2018 Lobbying Records as Tech Scrutiny Intensifies
- Privacy scandals have led to demands for tighter regulation
- Calls for breakup of tech giants have come from left and right
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Google, Amazon.com Inc. and Facebook Inc. set company records for lobbying spending in 2018 as Washington’s scrutiny of Big Tech intensified.
Alphabet Inc.’s Google unit spent more than $21 million to influence Washington, according to federal disclosures, in a year when its chief executive officer, Sundar Pichai, made his first appearance before Congress. The search giant, which spent $4.9 million in the last three months of the year, according to a Tuesday filing, beat its previous record of more than $18 million from 2017.