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Apple's U.S. Lobbying Spending Hits Record High as It Fights Antitrust Legislation

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Apple spent $2.5 million on lobbying in the first three months of 2022, a record high for the company, reports Bloomberg. Apple bumped up its spending on lobbying to fight back against antitrust legislation that the U.S. government is considering at the current time.

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Apple in the fourth quarter of 2021 spent $1.86 million on lobbying, so its spending is up over 34 percent in the early months of 2022. Apple's previous high was $2.2 million in the second quarter of 2017, a year after Apple's battle with the FBI over iPhone unlocking.

Both the United States and Europe are developing antitrust legislation that would significantly impact the way that tech companies like Apple operate. In the United States, the Senate Judiciary Committee has approved multiple bills like the Open App Markets Act, which would require Apple to allow alternate app stores and alternate payment methods on the iPhone.

No bills have been passed in the United States, but the Senate is considering them and the European Union has already provisionally agreed on the Digital Markets Act, legislature that is similar to the Open App Markets Act.

Like Apple, Google has also been lobbying against these antitrust bills, spending $2.96 million in the first quarter of 2022.

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Top Rated Comments

trusso Avatar
trusso
52 months ago
Genuine question: is lobbying simply a nicer word for bribery now?

To my mind, lobbying suggests paying a relatively consistent number of people to make arguments to lawmakers for a particular side of an issue. But if there are significant increases in lobbying spending, I’m genuinely curious on where does that money go?

I simply don’t think lawmakers would continue to screw over their constituents so badly if they weren’t getting kickbacks somewhere along the line.
Score: 32 Votes (Like | Disagree)
A
alex00100
52 months ago
Can't wait to see how people here find ways to justify this
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ouimetnick Avatar
ouimetnick
52 months ago
If only they spent some of that money on fixing Siri, especially Siri on HomePod.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
the8thark Avatar
the8thark
52 months ago
Tim Cook Can't keep his hats separate. He is wearing his lobbyist hat and his CEO hat at the same time.
Very immoral and should be held to account for it.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
A
alexe
52 months ago
Apple should just finally get on board with the fact that they've become too big by now to be allowed to behave however the eff they want.

They are a great company and do a lot of cool stuff, but they also abuse their power and behave anti-competitively in more than one way.

Being the most valuable company on earth you have more responsibility than just to your shareholders.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
T
TiggrToo
52 months ago

Can't wait to see how people here find ways to justify this
Challenge accepted.

Apple are a publicly traded company that first and foremost have a responsibility to their shareholders to maximize their investment.

This is the sort of action designed to do just that.

Now, is it fair to everyone who isn’t a shareholder - well, that’s a whole different story.

But it’s easy to justify.

And no, I don’t like it. I dislike lobbying. Period.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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