The largest US technology companies continued to spend millions on lobbying in the last quarter, seeking to sway legislation intended to bolster antitrust enforcement and force other changes on the industry.
Apple increased its spending on lobbying to $1.64 million in the second quarter, up 12.3 per cent from the previous quarter. Amazon’s total increased by 1.3 per cent to $4.86m. Lobbying expenditures by Microsoft dipped slightly, down 4.6 per cent to $2.47m and Facebook mostly held steady at $4.77m. Alphabet-owned Google spent $2.09m, down 22.3 per cent from the first quarter, but up 23.7 per cent from last year.
While the numbers show a mixed trend, the sustained level of spending on government influence demonstrates what the technology industry has at stake as policymakers debate stronger antitrust enforcement and tougher regulations on a sector that, for the most part, has been allowed to develop organically. Now, these entrenched companies have surpassed $1 trillion and, in some cases, $2tn in market valuation and are using their abundant resources to protect their positions.
Most of the companies disclosed dozens of legislative bills and issues that their lobbyists are tracking, grouped into broad categories like taxes, consumers, homeland security and banking. The lobbying reports, required by law, were due on Tuesday.
A common concern was antitrust. Forcing more competition in the online economy is one of few issues that has bridged partisan divides in the US Congress, and received the full support of the Biden administration.
Antitrust advocates on Tuesday cheered the nomination of Google foe Jonathan Kanter to lead the Justice Department’s antitrust division. He joins Lina Khan, a fierce critic of the technology companies who heads the Federal Trade Commission, and Tim Wu, a leader of the new anti-monopolist movement, as a top White House adviser.
A bill to give the Justice Department and the FTC more resources to pursue competition cases passed the Senate and a similar measure received bipartisan support in the House of Representatives.
Five other antitrust measures got votes from Republicans and Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee, including proposals focused on a handful of US tech companies to make mergers more difficult, force platforms to allow consumers to move their data, change how companies present their own services to consumers or force them to divest entirely of certain lines of business.
Apple, Facebook, Google, Amazon and Microsoft all listed these House proposals as targets of their lobbying campaign in the second quarter, trying to convince lawmakers this legislation would destroy popular products, endanger user safety and benefit foreign competitors. There is some evidence that these arguments resonated, as it’s unclear whether the bills would have enough support to pass the full House, and no floor vote has been scheduled.
The companies also mentioned either the semiconductor supply chain, or the Senate bill designed to support US manufacturing of the sophisticated chips needed for consumer electronics.
One of the issues for Amazon, Apple and Facebook was the legal liability shield known as Section 230 that lawmakers of both parties want to change to hold tech platforms responsible for how user content is displayed and disseminated.
Amazon was the industry’s biggest spender, listing individual pieces of legislation and issues across a wide range of subjects including aviation, transportation and finance – reflecting the online retailer and distributor’s massive business reach.
Apple lobbied on topics related to its consumer credit card business and the development of autonomous vehicles, as well as “privacy practices in the App ecosystem”, which was one of the issues raised in a Senate antitrust hearing this year. Several senators are working on their own antitrust bills, including one aimed at changing app store practices to support Apple’s competitors.
Facebook, which recently sparred with the White House over President Joe Biden’s concerns about false online information regarding the coronavirus, said its lobbying issues in the second quarter included “voter suppression/interference, political ads and misinformation policies”.
In an indication of how much is at stake for tech companies, the Computer Technology Association, an industry group, increased its spending on lobbying to $1.2m in the second quarter, up 103.4 per cent from the first quarter.
Twitter’s lobbying jumped 65 per cent from the first quarter, bringing its second quarter total to $660,000. The social media company also listed the House’s antitrust bills as an issue, as well as content moderation and digital security.
Oracle increased spending on its lobbying efforts by 45.2 per cent to $2.44m, listing government procurement as an issue of focus in the same quarter that the Pentagon decided to pull back a $10 billion contract with Microsoft, giving other companies another chance to make their case.
The%20specs
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Company%20profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Belong%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Michael%20Askew%20and%20Matthew%20Gaziano%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Technology%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETotal%20funding%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%243.5%20million%20from%20crowd%20funding%20and%20angel%20investors%3Cstrong%3E%3Cbr%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2012%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
CHELSEA'S NEXT FIVE GAMES
Mar 10: Norwich(A)
Mar 13: Newcastle(H)
Mar 16: Lille(A)
Mar 19: Middlesbrough(A)
Apr 2: Brentford(H)
Key figures in the life of the fort
Sheikh Dhiyab bin Isa (ruled 1761-1793) Built Qasr Al Hosn as a watchtower to guard over the only freshwater well on Abu Dhabi island.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Dhiyab (ruled 1793-1816) Expanded the tower into a small fort and transferred his ruling place of residence from Liwa Oasis to the fort on the island.
Sheikh Tahnoon bin Shakhbut (ruled 1818-1833) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further as Abu Dhabi grew from a small village of palm huts to a town of more than 5,000 inhabitants.
Sheikh Khalifa bin Shakhbut (ruled 1833-1845) Repaired and fortified the fort.
Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon (ruled 1845-1855) Turned Qasr Al Hosn into a strong two-storied structure.
Sheikh Zayed bin Khalifa (ruled 1855-1909) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further to reflect the emirate's increasing prominence.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Sultan (ruled 1928-1966) Renovated and enlarged Qasr Al Hosn, adding a decorative arch and two new villas.
Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan (ruled 1966-2004) Moved the royal residence to Al Manhal palace and kept his diwan at Qasr Al Hosn.
Sources: Jayanti Maitra, www.adach.ae
SPEC SHEET
Display: 6.8" edge quad-HD dynamic Amoled 2X, Infinity-O, 3088 x 1440, 500ppi, HDR10 , 120Hz
Processor: 4nm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1/Exynos 2200, 8-core
Memory: 8/12GB RAM
Storage: 128/256/512GB/1TB
Platform: Android 12
Main camera: quad 12MP ultra-wide f/2.2, 108MP wide f/1.8, 10MP telephoto f/4.9, 10MP telephoto 2.4; Space Zoom up to 100x, auto HDR, expert RAW
Video: 8K@24fps, 4K@60fps, full-HD@60fps, HD@30fps, super slo-mo@960fps
Front camera: 40MP f/2.2
Battery: 5000mAh, fast wireless charging 2.0 Wireless PowerShare
Connectivity: 5G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC
I/O: USB-C
SIM: single nano, or nano and SIM, nano and nano, eSIM/nano and nano
Colours: burgundy, green, phantom black, phantom white, graphite, sky blue, red
Price: Dh4,699 for 128GB, Dh5,099 for 256GB, Dh5,499 for 512GB; 1TB unavailable in the UAE
Timeline
2012-2015
The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East
May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group
May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan
August 2025
Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
November 2025
180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE
The Energy Research Centre
Founded 50 years ago as a nuclear research institute, scientists at the centre believed nuclear would be the “solution for everything”.
Although they still do, they discovered in 1955 that the Netherlands had a lot of natural gas. “We still had the idea that, by 2000, it would all be nuclear,” said Harm Jeeninga, director of business and programme development at the centre.
"In the 1990s, we found out about global warming so we focused on energy savings and tackling the greenhouse gas effect.”
The energy centre’s research focuses on biomass, energy efficiency, the environment, wind and solar, as well as energy engineering and socio-economic research.
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
Quick pearls of wisdom
Focus on gratitude: And do so deeply, he says. “Think of one to three things a day that you’re grateful for. It needs to be specific, too, don’t just say ‘air.’ Really think about it. If you’re grateful for, say, what your parents have done for you, that will motivate you to do more for the world.”
Know how to fight: Shetty married his wife, Radhi, three years ago (he met her in a meditation class before he went off and became a monk). He says they’ve had to learn to respect each other’s “fighting styles” – he’s a talk it-out-immediately person, while she needs space to think. “When you’re having an argument, remember, it’s not you against each other. It’s both of you against the problem. When you win, they lose. If you’re on a team you have to win together.”