Tech turns to K-Street in antitrust fight
New scrutiny from regulators and Congress over the tech industry’s antitrust issues is putting Silicon Valley’s K Street support to the test.
Tech giants such as Amazon, Google, Facebook and Apple have been beefing up their lobbying teams, bringing in both in-house talent and outside firms.
The threat of an antitrust crackdown on tech companies is sparking a new flurry of activity. For lobbying firms there is a rush to snap up potentially lucrative contracts, but also pressure to deliver as the tech industry faces one of its toughest battles.
“Antitrust investigations are fact-intensive by their nature and these are complicated, fast-moving markets. It’s no surprise that the big tech companies are staffing up with people to help answer inquiries from antitrust enforcers,” said Nuala O’Connor, president and CEO of the Center for Democracy and Technology.
Why now: Tech companies are no strangers to K Street and have been boosting their lobbying spending in recent years, attracting some of the top talent in Washington. Tech companies have faced a host of legislative and regulatory questions in recent years, including over data privacy scandals, workforce diversity, encryption, net neutrality and trade. But for Silicon Valley, the prospect of federal regulators looking into their market power could shake up their business models and drastically change their companies.
Both the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) are weighing probes into the industry’s biggest players, and Congress has opened its own investigation into whether to rewrite the nation’s antitrust laws for the new economy.
The increased scrutiny also comes with the industry finding few allies in Washington.
Critics, including President Trump and 2020 contender Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), have even floated breaking up the companies to level the playing field.
Gearing up for the fight: Enlisting help from the influence world will be critical to helping fight off that threat, K Street watchers told The Hill.
“Washington likes to control anything that’s important, and today that includes online platforms,” Carl Szabo, vice president and general counsel at NetChoice, a trade association of e-commerce businesses, said.
“Silicon Valley has woken up to this reality and is hiring accordingly. This is the normal path of any business as it grows.”
The antitrust fight could be a gold mine for lobbying firms as tech companies beef up their Washington presence. But there are also high stakes for those firms and executives at trade associations, who must now deliver and help the industry fight off the threat.
