Apple and other tech giants are using anti-China lobbying as part of their attempts to fend off US antitrust legislation, according to a new report today.
The lobbying is being done via US foreign policy think tanks …
The Financial Times reports.
The world’s largest technology companies are pouring money into the biggest foreign policy think-tanks in the US, as they seek to advance the argument that stricter competition rules will benefit China.
Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple are behind an increase in funding to four of Washington’s most prestigious research groups: the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Center for a New American Security, Brookings and the Hudson Institute.
Total donations from Big Tech companies to the four think-tanks have risen from at least $625,000 in 2017-18 to at least $1.2mn in 2019-20, according to a Financial Times analysis of financial disclosures. These figures could be as high as $1.2mn in 2017-18 to $2.7mn in 2019-20.
The piece notes that the sums are small in absolute terms, but are still large enough to see tech giants rival oil and gas companies in their think-tank donations.
Apple’s attempts to block antitrust legislation have not been going well lately, despite CEO Tim Cook personally picking up the phone to leading legislators.
A steady stream of multimillion-dollar scams on the App Store have weakened arguments that Apple’s control of the iOS market makes it a safe place for consumers; a growing number of other countries are reducing the company’s iron grip on app sales; one US antitrust bill has proceeded to the committee stage; a co-sponsor of that and another bill has dismissed Apple’s objections; individual states are pursuing their own antitrust legislation; and both the US Department of Justice and 35 US states are supporting Epic’s antitrust appeal against Apple.
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