TikTok, The Chinese Social Media Giant That Spent Record Sum On US Lobbying

TikTok parent ByteDance has doled over $2.1 million in the second quarter to lobby the U.S.. government.
The spend represents a 130% increase quarter-on-quarter and marks the first time it has topped $2 million in a single quarter since it first registered lobbying disclosures in 2019.
TikTok shelled out $4.7 million on lobbying in all of 2021.
TikTok discussed the critical antitrust bill prohibiting dominant tech platforms from favoring their offerings over rivals.
TikTok also lobbied on the two versions of a significant funding bill to boost American chip manufacturing competitiveness, some online privacy bills, a defense spending bill, and a bill to ban TikTok from Department of Homeland Security devices.
U.S. lawmakers remained skeptical over U.S. data security in the hands of TikTok.
The U.S. started curbing China’s access to key semiconductor technology that previously saw it imposing restrictions on Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
Coincidentally the market is anticipating an ease down in China’s regulatory policies via DiDi Global Inc’s DIDIY record fine, possibly marking an end to its regulatory trauma, NetEase, Inc’s NTES gaming release, China’s recourse to the overseas market for funds beyond the U.S.
Amazon.com Inc AMZN spent a record $4.98 million, up 2.5% year-on-year, on U.S. lobbying in Q2, as the country braced for a Big Tech crackdown.
Photo by olivier-bergeron via Unsplash