ByteDance and Meta spent over $200,000 per day lobbying in first half of 2024

It has been nearly one year since the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) was voted unanimously out of committee by the Senate Commerce Committee. In the year since, the bill has made progress in the House and has garnered strong bipartisan support, with close to 70 Senate cosponsors, and is expected to receive a vote on the Senate floor as early as this week.

Yet, a new analysis by Issue One of recently filed federal lobbying reports by Meta, ByteDance, and other big tech companies underscores how social media companies show no signs of slowing down their influence operations and several have invested record breaking amounts of money into their lobbying efforts on Capitol Hill during the first half of 2024.

Social media giants ByteDance and Meta together have spent an average of nearly $220,000 per day that Congress was in session thus far in 2024 on their lobbying efforts and have employed one lobbyist for every five members of Congress.

ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, spent a record $6 million on lobbying during the first half of 2024 — a 65% increase from what it spent on lobbying during the first half of 2023 and the most the company has spent in any first half of the year since it first hired federal lobbyists in 2019. This year, ByteDance has hired 49 lobbyists — one for every 11 members of Congress.

Similarly, Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, spent a record $13.6 million on lobbying during the first half of 2024 — a 43% increase from what it spent on lobbying during the first half of 2023 and the most the company has spent in the first half of the year since it first started federal lobbying in 2009. This year, Meta has employed 65 lobbyists — one for every eight members of Congress. 

“Unaccountable social media companies are continuing to spend millions and deploy a slew of lobbyists to disrupt growing bipartisan support for responsible safeguards that prioritize the safety of our children and the health of our democracy over the bottom line of a few corporations. Despite apologizing to parents whose children have been harmed by his platform earlier this year, Mark Zuckerberg’s company still has one lobbyist for every eight members of Congress,” said Alix Fraser, director of Issue One’s Council for Responsible Social Media. “An overwhelming majority of Americans are demanding that Congress pass reasonable measures, like the Kids Online Safety Act, that will help create a healthier online environment. It’s time for our elected leaders to listen to the voices of the people and stand up to Big Tech.”

Furthermore, other tech companies and trade associations have also invested record amounts into their lobbying efforts. In the first half of the year, Microsoft spent $5.1 million, Snap spent a record $640,000, and OpenAI spent a record $800,000. Similarly, TechNet spent a record $1.5 million, NetChoice spent a record $380,000, and Internet Works spent a record $240,000.

While bipartisan consensus continues to grow in support of commonsense safeguards that will help make the internet a healthier place, Big Tech has repeatedly demonstrated their opposition to any federal regulations that will require the largest platforms to prioritize the safety of their users.