Google Way Outspends Rivals in Lobbying

Google spent more on lobbying last year than Apple, Facebook, and Yahoo combined, dropping a total of $5.16 million—or 29% more than the year before, according to its Lobbying Disclosure Act Database filing. The jump is pretty understandable, given that net neutrality and online privacy were major issues, Mashable observes.

“It’s a huge increase, and shows that Google has become a high-stakes influence peddler, throwing its weight around Washington like the rest of corporate America,” said one advocate at Consumer Watchdog, a group that regularly butts heads with Google. (More Google stories.)