Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is no stranger to the ways of Washington, D.C. The billionaire CEO has defended his company in a series of public grillings by Congress in recent years. Behind the scenes, he’s also embraced a time-honored practice for winning influence inside the Beltway: splashing the cash. In the first nine months of this year, Facebook spent $12.3 million on lobbying, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, well ahead of its 2018 pace. But Zuck is hardly alone. Over the past decade, tech companies have increased their spending on K Street by 14.7% to $428.8 million, compared with a rise of just 4.5% across all industries. Here, some of Big Tech’s biggest spenders.
Source: Center for Responsive Politics
* Tech data includes internet, communications, and electronics companies plus Uber and Lyft. Lobbying amounts for above companies include only subsidiaries in the same industry.
A version of this article appears in the December 2019 issue of Fortune with the headline “Tech Does K Street“
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