Big Tech companies in the third quarter of 2024 lobbied on year-end spending packages and the annual defense policy bill.
Why it matters: All eyes will be on must-pass legislation during the lame duck, as lawmakers are unlikely to get to anything else across the finish line before the new Congress.
By the numbers: In Q3 2024, the top spenders were Meta, Amazon and Google.
Other companies kept their spending levels fairly steady from previous quarters.
- Oracle: $2.8 million
- Microsoft: $2.5 million
- Apple: $1.9 million
Some spent less in Q3 than the previous quarter.
- ByteDance: $2 million compared to $3.3 million
- IBM: $940,000 compared to $2 million
What's inside: Tech companies lobbied the House, Senate and Biden administration on privacy, content moderation, voter suppression, misinformation, affordable internet access, spectrum, competition issues in online advertising, workforce and other issues.
- The Future of AI Innovation Act and the CREATE AI Act, both of which are viewed as top contenders for any movement on AI this year, came up in several filings.
The Kids Online Safety Act and COPPA 2.0 may face an uphill climb in the lame duck, but Congress is still closer than ever before to passing protections for minors.
- With that in mind, companies continued lobbying on the two leading measures, including Meta, the top overall spender that would be the most impacted if they were to become laws.
AI companies continue to trail behind Big Tech spending, but did pour money into lobbying on AI bills in play for end-of-year legislative vehicles.
- OpenAI: $430,000 compared to $460,000 the previous quarter
- C3 AI: $130,000 (same as previous quarter)
- A16Z: $450,000 compared to $660,000
- Anthropic: $220,000 compared to $150,000
