Meta Lobbying Spending Dips as Job Cuts, Costs Surge

Emily Birnbaum, Bloomberg News

Mark Zuckerberg Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Meta Platforms Inc.’s spending on lobbying decreased by about $1 million during the final three months of 2022 compared to the previous quarter, according to filings posted on Friday.

Meta, which owns Facebook, spent $3.65 million on lobbying during the fourth quarter of 2022, a significant decrease from the $4.72 million in the previous quarter.

The drop comes as Meta works to cut costs across the company, which expanded dramatically during the coronavirus pandemic. When Meta announced 11,000 layoffs last November, Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said he had wrongly assumed the pandemic revenue gains would endure.

Zuckerberg vowed to pare back Meta’s office footprint and tighten the company’s belt.

Some of the country’s largest technology companies have announced a wave of job cuts over the past few months. Alphabet Inc.’s Google on Friday slashed about 12,000 positions, while Amazon.com Inc. announced 18,000 dismissals at the beginning of January. The tech sector announced 97,171 job cuts in 2022, up 649% compared to the previous year, Bloomberg reported.

It’s unclear if those companies will adjust their lobbying outlays amid a worsening economic outlook. Amazon spent $4.79 million on lobbying during the fourth quarter of 2022, a slight decrease from the $4.95 million it spent on lobbying the previous quarter. During the fourth quarter of 2021, Amazon spent $4.8 million on lobbying.

The industry has dramatically expanded its lobbying presence over the past two years as they fended off congressional and regulatory threats. Last year, the technology giants defeated significant bipartisan legislation in Congress to rein in their power last year.

Google spent $2.72 million on lobbying during the fourth quarter, a modest increase after spending $2.47 million on lobbying during the third quarter.

Microsoft, which said this week that it would eliminate 10,000 positions, was the only other major tech company to increase its lobbying in the last quarter, spending $2.54 million compared to $2.3 million in the third quarter.

Apple Inc., which has not announced major workforce reductions, spent a record amount of money on lobbying in the fourth quarter. Apple spent $2.87 million on lobbying, up about $1 million since it spent $1.92 million in the previous quarter. Apple’s spending came as the company worked to kill legislation aimed at reducing its control over its app store.

--With assistance from Bill Allison.