Apple Spent A Record Amount To Block Antitrust Legislation In 2022

The company topped off its record lobbying year with a record fourth quarter.

by David Moore and Donald Shaw, Sludge

Apple spent a record amount on lobbying Congress and the federal government in 2022 as it sought to kill a pair of tech-focused antitrust bills that would have prohibited it from giving preference to its own apps on its App Store or requiring app developers to use its payment system, among other things.

According to disclosures filed with the Senate, Apple spent more than $9.3 million on federal lobbying in 2022, surpassing its previous high of $7.4 million spent in 2019. The company topped off its record year by spending more money on federal lobbying in the fourth quarter—nearly $2.9 million—than it had ever spent in previous quarters.

The antitrust bills, which would also have affected other large tech companies including Amazon and Alphabet, officially died earlier this month when the last congressional session came to a close. They had both been approved in the Senate Judiciary Committee by bipartisan majorities, but Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) declined to call them up for votes on the Senate floor despite committing earlier in the year to do so. And in the House, one of the bills was advanced by the Judiciary Committee in June 2021, but former Speaker Nancy Pelosi did not call it up for a vote, saying she wanted the Senate to pass it first.