Dear Commons Community,

In response to one of my earlier blog postings on how much big corporations are spending on lobbying efforts, I received an email from Natasha Myles of Comparitech alerting me to a new study her organization has completed regarding Internet service providers (ISPs).  According to the findings, more than $1.2 billion was spent on lobbying since 1998, and 2018 was the biggest year so far with a total of more than $80 million.  A summary of the report and access to a database is available at:  https://comparite.ch/isp-lobbying.  Above are the top five ISP spenders.  Here are the highlights of the latest report:

• 2018 was the biggest year yet for ISP lobbying at $80 million.
• Top spenders include AT&T, Verizon, and Comcast, which have amassed lobbying expenses of $341 million, $265 million, and $200 million, respectively since 1998.
• Since 2011, yearly spending on lobbying across all ISPs hasn’t strayed below $72 million.
• The largest amount spent by any provider in any year was AT&T in 1999, at almost $23 million. AT&T’s acquisition of Ameritech Corp accounted for much of this, and the merger eventually led to the creation of America’s largest telecom company.
• Total spent from 2016 to 2019 is set to exceed lobbying expenses between 2012 and 2015, which totaled $295 million.
• Lobbying in favor of mergers and acquisitions accounted for many of the biggest expenses for individual ISPs in a single year.
• $1.2 billion has been spent by ISPs on lobbying since 1998.

Thank you Natasha for this information.  Very helpful to see how government works!

Tony

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