Twitter lobbying dollars shoot up but are eclipsed by other Internet giants

Twitter’s lobbying spending nearly doubled in the third quarter, but its advocacy dollars are eclipsed by the big three Internet spenders — Google, Facebook and Amazon. 

Twitter’s $170,000 in spending — an increase of increased 89 percent — came as it hired its first three outside lobbying firms, but it is nowhere near Google’s $3.65 million, Facebook’s $2.59 million and Amazon’s $2.02 million. 

{mosads}Lobbying disclosures for the third quarter of 2015 were due earlier this week. 

Third quarter spending for most Internet companies remained largely flat compared to the same quarter last year, while spending from a number of other major Internet lobbyists dropped slightly — including spending from Google, Yahoo, eBay and Apple. 

Google’s spending decreased by about $300,000 from this time last year. It is a drop off of about $1 million compared to the second quarter of 2015. 

Facebook’s spending stayed slightly on track, increasing about $140,00 from this time last year. 

Amazon, for the second time, spent more than $2 million in a three-month period. It is slightly less than last quarter but is an increase of about $200,000 compared to this time last year. 

Microsoft spent $1.89 million compared to $1.16 million this time last year.

Apple spent $980,000, a drop from $1.01 million this time last year. 

Yahoo decreased its lobbying spending to $690,000 from $730,000 last year, while eBay’s spending dropped to $281,000 from about $300,000 last year. 

Pandora spent about $260,000, an increase of $140,000 from last year. Spotify spent $230,000 after registering its first lobbyists earlier this year. 

Netflix remained steady, spending $330,000, the exact same amount it has budgeted in the past few quarters.