As Congress Debates Bipartisan Social Media Safeguards, Tech Giants Dig In

A new Issue One analysis of recently filed federal lobbying reports show that several social media titans poured massive sums of money into their influence operations in Washington, D.C., during the first quarter of 2024 — a time when Congress has been taking bipartisan steps to safeguard kids from online harms, protect Americans’ data privacy, and curb the influence of the Chinese government over the popular app TikTok.

It’s been nearly three months since social media CEOs testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg famously apologized to the parents of children who had died from, or been harmed by, social media. All the while, he has directed his company to fight to maintain the status quo, magnifying the harms to kids that he was supposedly apologizing for.

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, spent a record $7.64 million on lobbying during the first quarter of 2024 — more than it has spent in any single quarter since it first started lobbying in 2009. This sum represented a 66% increase above what it spent on its lobbying efforts during the first quarter of 2023. So far this year, Meta has employed 64 lobbyists — one for every eight members of Congress.

Meanwhile, ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, spent $2.68 million on lobbying during the first quarter of 2024 — a 73% increase above what it spent on lobbying during the first quarter of 2023. Just once has ByteDance spent more on its lobbying efforts since it began lobbying in 2019. That was during the third quarter of 2023, when the company spent $3.75 million. So far this year, ByteDance and TikTok, which many critics fear are too closely linked to the Chinese Communist Party, have hired 47 lobbyists — one for every 11 members of Congress.

“Unaccountable social media companies are harming our kids, weakening American democracy, and undermining U.S. national security — all while simultaneously deploying vast influence campaigns and legions of lobbyists to silence the overwhelming majority of Americans who want to see Congress pass bipartisan safeguards that prioritize more than the bottom line of a few corporations,” said Alix Fraser, director of Issue One’s Council for Responsible Social Media. “Our elected leaders must put our country first, by standing up to Big Tech and embracing sensible measures that will protect our children, communities, and democracy.”

Added Council for Responsible Social Media Co-chair and former Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey (R-MA): “Today’s youth are in the midst of a national epidemic of depression, anxiety, and loneliness, but Big Tech still continues to lobby against reasonable proposals like the bipartisan Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) from becoming law and creating a safer online environment for our children. Social media companies care more about maximizing profits than addressing the health and well-being of their youngest users. It’s time for Congress to step in and force social media platforms to change course.”

Other high-profile tech companies also continued to invest significant sums into their lobbying efforts, as did Big Tech’s major trade associations, which have been working at the state and federal level to thwart legislation to protect kids and increase data privacy.

• Alphabet, the parent company of Google and YouTube, spent $3.65 million on lobbying during the first quarter — an increase of 5% from what it spent during the same period in 2023.

• Microsoft, the parent company of LinkedIn and a major player in the emerging market of generative artificial intelligence (AI), spent $2.5 million on lobbying during the first quarter — an increase of 3% from what it spent during the same period in 2023.

• TechNet — a trade association formed in 1997 whose members today include tech companies such as Alphabet, Meta, and Snap — spent $760,000 on lobbying during the first quarter, an increase of 36% from what it spent during the same period in 2023.

• NetChoice — a trade association formed in 2001 whose members today include tech giants such as Alphabet, Amazon, ByteDance, Meta, Snap, and X — spent $190,000 on lobbying during the first quarter, an increase of 138% from what it spent during the same period in 2023.

• Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, spent a record $420,000 on lobbying during the first quarter. This sum was more than the company has spent in any single quarter since it first began lobbying in 2014 and represented an increase of 24% from what it spent during the same period in 2023.

• OpenAI, the company behind the popular AI tool known as ChatGPT, spent $340,000 on lobbying during the first quarter. The company hired its first-ever federal lobbyists during the fourth quarter of 2023, when it spent $260,000.

Among major social media companies, only X — the company formerly known as Twitter — invested less on lobbying expenditures during the first quarter of 2024 than during the same period a year earlier. During the first quarter of 2024, X spent $170,000 on lobbying, down 45% from what it spent during the first quarter of 2023. Ever since billionaire Elon Musk took over the company in 2022, it has been losing money at an alarming rate, which might help explain its decline in lobbying expenditures.

Riana Bucceri contributed to this report.