Amid increased pressure from the U.S. Congress alleging antitrust issues, Apple spent $2.5 million on lobbying in the first three months of 2022, a record quarterly high.
Jarrell Dillard and Bill Allison for Bloomberg News:
Apple’s lobbying expenditures increased more than 34% from the $1.86 million the company spent in the fourth quarter of 2021, according to disclosure reports released Wednesday. The previous high was $2.2 million, spent in the second quarter of 2017.
Apple disclosed lobbying on dozens of issues and measures, including antitrust bills intended to curtail the power of big technology companies.
Alphabet Inc.’s Google spent $2.96 million in the first three months of 2022. That’s a 34% increase from the previous quarter, but it’s the same amount the company spent during the first quarter of 2021.
Microsoft Corp. reported spending $2.5 million on lobbying in the first quarter. That was an increase of 2.8% over the previous quarter but down 1.9% from a year ago.
MacDailyNews Take: $2.5 million per quarter is a rounding error for Apple.
You’d think Apple’s lobbying expenditures would be higher, but as long as the company is willing to ban apps like Parler and donate money to outfits like the SPLC — i.e. play the game — we bet that, even without any lobbying, the company will skate right on by the U.S. Congress’ severest antitrust threats that are intended to and do, in fact, keep Apple in line.
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