Tech companies are spending more on lobbying in Washington

Most tech giants spent an increasingly large amount of cash this quarter versus previous quarters lobbying U.S. officials on their various interests. Amazon, Google, and Twitter all saw their lobbying expenditures increase in the most recent quarter that just ended last month, Bloomberg reports. Among the major tech and communication companies that have reported their most recent lobbying expenses:

Amazon spent $3.63 million – a company record
Google spent $5.46 million – up 30% YOY
Facebook spent $2.82 million – down $300,000
Twitter spent $310,000 – up almost threefold
Microsoft spent $2.24 million
Oracle spent $1.44 million
IBM spent $900,000
AT&T spent $3.85 million
Comcast spent $3.43 million
Charter Communications spent $2.27 million
Verizon spent just over $2.33 million

Amazon’s increased spending on lobbying can be attributed in part to the company trying to secure a $10 billion cloud-computing contract with the Pentagon. Google, Facebook, and Twitter meanwhile had to deal with increasing pressure from lawmakers about reining in election meddling on their platforms.