In the months leading up to this week’s announcement that the Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google, the technology giant spent $2.7 million on federal lobbying, including on antitrust matters, recent public disclosures show.
That investment in federal lobbying, which totaled $10.9 million for all of 2022, represents a decline compared to what Google spent just a few years ago. In 2018, Google reported spending $21.2 million on federal lobbying, but the following year reported a 44 percent slide in spending as it restructured its K Street operation. It has not rebounded since then.
The company’s political action committee, too, has raised and spent less, according to campaign finance disclosures.
