Apple and other tech giants are using anti-China lobbying as part of their attempts to fend off US antitrust legislation, according to a new report today.<\/p>\n
The lobbying is being done via US foreign policy think tanks <\/p>\n
The Financial Times reports.<\/p>\n
The worlds largest technology companies are pouring money into the biggest foreign policy think-tanks in the US, as they seek to advance the argument that stricter competition rules will benefit China.<\/p>\n
Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple are behind an increase in funding to four of Washingtons most prestigious research groups: the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Center for a New American Security, Brookings and the Hudson Institute.<\/p>\n
Total donations from Big Tech companies to the four think-tanks have risen from at least $625,000 in 2017-18 to at least $1.2mn in 2019-20, according to a Financial Times analysis of financial disclosures. These figures could be as high as $1.2mn in 2017-18 to $2.7mn in 2019-20.<\/p>\n
The piece notes that the sums are small in absolute terms, but are still large enough to see tech giants rival oil and gas companies in their think-tank donations.<\/p>\n
Apples attempts to block antitrust legislation have not been going well lately, despite CEO Tim Cook personally picking up the phone to leading legislators.<\/p>\n
A steady stream of multimillion-dollar scams on the App Store have weakened arguments that Apples control of the iOS market makes it a safe place for consumers; a growing number of other countries are reducing the companys iron grip on app sales; one US antitrust bill has proceeded to the committee stage; a co-sponsor of that and another bill has dismissed Apples objections; individual states are pursuing their own antitrust legislation; and both the US Department of Justice and 35 US states are supporting Epics antitrust appeal against Apple.<\/p>\n
Photo:Yufeng Fei\/Unsplash<\/p>\n
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Apple and other tech giants use anti-China lobbying to argue against antitrust legislation - 9to5Mac<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Apple and other tech giants are using anti-China lobbying as part of their attempts to fend off US antitrust legislation, according to a new report today. Continue reading