Amazon, Facebook and Google donated tens of thousands of dollars in the second half of 2021 to Democrats who have voiced reservations about antitrust legislation under consideration on Capitol Hill.
During that time, those companies largely did not contribute to the lawmakers leading the bipartisan effort to revamp U.S. antitrust laws, including Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I., and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn. Some of those lawmakers have sworn off such donations.
Proponents of the effort are pushing to grow their coalition before the midterm elections this fall bog down legislative action in Washington. But they've faced resistance from moderate Democrats, including several prominent Californians in the House and Senate who have expressed concerns that the bills are too narrowly focused on the biggest American technology companies, including ones like Facebook and Google that hail from their home state.
The tech giants and their industry groups have launched a lobbying blitz in Washington to oppose the bills. The effort includes releasing a bevy of digital ads and having top executives, such as Apple CEO Tim Cook, call lawmakers to voice their concerns.
The antitrust proposals under consideration include a bill that would block the tech giants from favoring their goods over products from competitors, a measure that would make it harder for them to acquire their rivals, and another that would make it easier for regulators to sue in an attempt to break up the companies.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., has emerged as one of the biggest detractors, voting against each of those proposals at a House markup in June and arguing that some of the bills would "blow up the tech economy."
"They're really breakup bills," she said at the time.
In the months since, Lofgren and other California Democrats who spoke out against the bills have received tens of thousands of dollars in donations from the political action committees of Amazon, Facebook and Google.
Amazon, one of the main targets of legislative antitrust efforts, donated $5,000 to Lofgren and $1,000 apiece to Democratic Reps. Ted Lieu and Lou Correa, according to disclosure filings.
The Meta PAC, named after the company that owns Facebook, donated $2,500 each to Lofgren, Lieu and Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell and $2,000 to Correa during the second half of 2021. Meta Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg individually gave $2,900 to Lofgren.
The Google PAC gave $5,000 to Lofgren and $1,000 to Democratic Rep. Karen Bass.
All of the lawmakers voiced objections to the House antitrust bills or voted against them during the markup session last year.
In a statement after the session, Bass said that while she voted for a number of the antitrust bills to advance out of committee, she still had concerns and did so "with the understanding that the sponsors will respond to concerns raised before and during the committee vote."
Apple, another company targeted by the legislative proposals, does not have a political action committee.
The three other tech giants also donated to moderate Democrats outside California who have criticized some of the proposals, including the bill that would ban "self-preferencing" by the companies. That measure advanced out of a Senate panel last month.
The lawmakers include Sens. Christopher Coons, D-Del., and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. They, along with Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Alex Padilla, both California Democrats, voted to advance the bill out of committee, but not without first casting doubt on whether they would support it on the Senate floor.
Amazon donated $5,000 to Coons and $1,500 Leahy, and Meta donated $2,500 to Coons.
"If the conduct this bill seeks to prevent is unfair and improper, I believe that conduct should be prevented from anyone who engages in it, not only a small handful of companies," Feinstein said.
But the companies have also donated to a few lawmakers leading the antitrust efforts.
Amazon and Google donated to Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa -- who along with Klobuchar is pushing the bill aimed at blocking tech giants from prioritizing their goods -- to the tune of $4,000 and $1,500, respectively. Amazon also donated $3,000 to Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., who is leading a bipartisan bill that would force Apple and Google to loosen their grips on their app stores.