From a great article by SiliconANGLE’s Mike Wheatley:

Five of the biggest technology giants in the U.S. spent a combined $64.3 million on lobbying government officials in 2018, in a year that was notable for numerous congressional hearings, accusations of Russian interference in elections and the increased pressure heaped on the companies over issues such as privacy.

Alphabet Inc.’s Google LLC was the biggest spender, shelling out $21.2 million in 2018, according to a federal lobbying disclosure report filed this week. That’s a new record for Google, which had spent $18 million in 2017. The filing revealed that some of the issues Google threw money at included cloud computing, cybersecurity, data security, privacy, online advertising regulations, global trade, immigration and “policies on online controversial content.”

See the full article here.