From presidential inaugurations to high-profile dinners to documentary screenings, Big Tech leaders have become a fixture in the White House. And it looks like it’s spreading to Capitol Hill as well—their representatives are expanding their influence in Washington by spending millions in Congress.
Big Tech companies, and especially emerging AI giants, are now spending more than ever on lobbying in Congress. In just the first three months of 2026, 11 top tech companies, including Alphabet, Microsoft, Anthropic, and OpenAI, spent $20 million on lobbying, according to an analysis of first-quarter lobbying reports by Issue One, a bipartisan political reform group.
That’s an average of $226,000 a day in the first 90 days alone.
Big Tech’s lobbying spending has nearly doubled since 2020, as concerns grow about how social media has reshaped Americans’ lives, and as AI companies look to shape regulations over the controversial technology.
Meta spends the most money by far: Between January and March, the company invested $7.1 million, or nearly $80,000 a day, on federal lobbying. Still, when compared to its previous lobbying efforts, the company spent about $900,000 less than during Q1 last year. Alphabet, which files disclosures through its subsidiary companies like Google and YouTube, spent a total of $4.13 million during the first quarter, up about $400,000 from the same period in 2025.
AI-centered companies have been increasingly investing more in lobbying. Anthropic—whose first quarter was defined by its rocky relationship with the White House—more than quadrupled its congressional lobbying in the last year, spending $1.56 million last quarter, compared to $360,000 just a year prior. Likewise, OpenAI almost doubled its lobbying spending from $560,000 to $1.02 million in the same time period.
“Investing heavily in Washington influence operations is one way that these companies try to buy access and influence in Washington. Companies all across the economy, all sectors of the economy, want to have friends in Washington who will listen to their perspectives,” Michael Beckel, Issue One’s director of money and politics reform, told Fortune.
All told, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, Anthropic, and OpenAI employed 307 lobbyists during the first quarter. That’s one for every two members of Congress. Alphabet and Meta alone have 88 and 86 lobbyists, respectively, or one for every six members of Congress.
Larger lobbying investments come at a moment when more Americans are souring on Big Tech and their big plans for the future. As more data centers needed to support AI cropped up in Americans’ backyards, raising energy prices and temperatures in some cases, about a third of Americans say data centers do more bad than good for the environment, energy costs, and local quality of life, a March survey from Pew Research Center found.
