Governments often propose and announce new bills, laws, rules, and regulations. The general idea is supposed to be to protect the interests of its citizens and businesses. However, sometimes these new laws or regulations can hurt businesses. For example, a bill to increase taxes for businesses would allow a government to collect more money to be used to improve the country’s infrastructure. But the downside is that businesses have to pay more taxes, which is why many companies and industries attempt to lobby the government so that the rules skew more in their favor. Now, it appears that in 2025, companies like Apple and Meta increased their lobbying efforts.
Apple, Meta see increased lobbying in 2025
According to a recent Bloomberg report , the tech sector saw an increase in lobbying spending. Companies like Meta, Google, and Apple saw an increase in lobbying in 2025, with Meta spending $26.29 million and Google spending $13.10 million. Oddly enough, Apple wasn’t part of the top 10 spenders on Bloomberg’s list.
However, according to 9to5Mac , after checking the US Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act records , Apple spent $10 million in 2025. That would have put them in fourth place had they been included in the list. What makes this interesting is that this amount accounts for an increase of 27.9% compared to 2024’s spending.
It was also revealed that Apple’s lobbying spanned nearly the entire federal government. We’re talking about government agencies like the FCC, EPA, Treasury, Commerce, Defense, Energy, HHS, and USTR.
The increase in spending isn’t surprising
If we were to take a look at Apple’s spending on lobbying over the past two decades, we’d see sharp spikes in the last decade. Coincidentally enough, that was when US President Donald Trump took office for his first term. 2025 was also when he took office for his second term.
Unlike his predecessors, Trump has never been shy about his interest in making deals. Even Apple has been forced to play nice. Apple CEO Tim Cook personally presented Trump with a gift in 2025. Will all this lobbying pay off in the end? We’ll have to wait and see, but Trump’s threats of tariffs for imported goods have resulted in many foreign companies rushing to build a larger presence in the US.
