Apple Spends Record High on Lobbying Amid Pressure from Congress

Apple Inc. spent a record quarterly high of $2.5 million on lobbying in the first three months of 2022 amid increased pressure from the U.S. Congress on technology companies over antitrust issues.

Apple 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.

The Open App Markets Act is one of the antitrust measures with bipartisan support under consideration in Congress. The bill would prevent app market operators, including Apple and Google, from giving preferential treatment to their own products.

The legislation would prohibit owners from requiring developers to use in-app payment systems owned by the platform. It would also ban owners from requiring more favorable pricing or conditions compared to other app stores or punishing the developers for different pricing terms elsewhere.

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.