Facebook Lobbying Expenditures Jump 36%

By Kent Cooper

Posted October 22, 2013 at 4:04pm

Facebook Inc. lobbying of the federal government continues to increase, as other online services hold or decrease their efforts.

Facebook Inc. reported it spent $1,440,000 on lobbying in the third quarter, up 36% from spending $1,060,000 during the second quarter. Joel Kaplan and his team of lobbyists worked on issues of privacy, security, connectivity and access, online advertising, immigration reform, border security, cyber security, corporate taxes, intellectual property, and patent litigation reform, among others areas.

Google Inc. reported a slight increase in lobbying expenditures to $3,370,000 from $3,360,000. Former Rep. Susan Molainari and Johanna Shelton were part of their eleven person in-house lobbying team.

2013 3rd Quarter Lobbying By Companies Providing Online Services

Google Inc. spent $3,370,000 – up from $3,360,000 in Q2.

Facebook spent $1,440,000 – up from $1,060,000 in Q2.

Amazon.com spent $780,000 – down from $860,000 in Q2.

Yahoo! spent $630,00 – down from $720,000 in Q2.

eBay spent $565,266 – down from $720,000 in Q2.

Zynga spent $160,000 – same as Q2.

Monster Worldwide spent $130,000 – down from $140,000 in Q2.

GoDaddy.com spent $94,000 – up from $82,000 in Q2.

Pandora Media spent $80,000 – down from $82,500 in Q2.

Airbnb spent $65,000 – same as Q2.

Orbitz Worldwide spent $52,500 – down from $64,535 in Q2.