Apple has launched a major charm offensive in Washington to counter a new wave of antitrust fever. And lobbyists and executives, including CEO Tim Cook, have met at the White House at least 87 times since Biden took office, according to public documents.
The $3 trillion tech giant has been linked to Beltway influence peddlers, lawyers, the White House and the Justice Department, according to a Post review of public documents and interviews with tech policy officials familiar with the company’s tactics. He is said to be assembling an army of staff members with ties to the company.
Since President Biden took office in 2021, Apple executives and lobbyists associated with the company have appeared on the White House public visitor log at least 87 times. Since 2021, Cook has personally visited the White House at least 11 times for public meetings with at least 14 officials, according to reports. Non-exhaustive review of disclosures.
That included at least three visits with President Biden, the most recent of which took place in June 2023. Cook’s White House visit included attending at least two of the four state dinners Biden has held since taking office, one with Macron in France and one with India. President) and Mr. Modi.
The sheer volume of calls Mr. Cook makes to the White House is staggering, even for a high-profile corporate executive, industry officials said.
“other than [ex-Google CEO] “People like Eric Schmidt, who I had key relationships with during the Obama administration, and Peter Thiel during the Trump years, I can’t think of anyone who is as close to the administration as they are,” said Revolving Door Project Executive Director. , said Jeff Houser.
Hauser said this large-scale offensive is just “the tip of the iceberg of the amount of money they’re spending to influence Washington,” and the true scale of Apple’s influence campaign remains largely unknown. He pointed out that it was impossible.
The White House and Justice Department declined to comment.
“There’s a significant cultural backlash against Big Tech right now, and Big Tech knows it and is fighting a culture war against it,” Hauser said.
The stakes are high for Apple, which faces the prospect of an antitrust crackdown. The antitrust crackdown could force major changes in the way business is done across its vast empire, from its dominant iPhone business to its lucrative but controversial App Store.
The Justice Department is preparing a wide-ranging antitrust lawsuit accusing Apple of using illegal tactics to maintain its iPhone dominance. Elsewhere, Apple’s crackdown on its popular messaging app Beeper Mini and the ugly Apple Watch patent infringement scandal have drawn regulators’ attention.
Apple has campaigned vigorously in Congress against aggressive bipartisan antitrust laws such as the Open App Markets Act and the American Innovation and Online Choice Act (AICOA), the latter of which Mr. Cook personally reportedly called on senators to lobby against it in 2022. Both would add new bills. Restrictions on how Apple operates the App Store.
When asked for comment, Apple explained its policy positions, noted that it regularly engages in dialogue with governments to advocate for priorities such as user privacy and ease of use, and noted that it engages in regular dialogue with governments to advocate for priorities such as user privacy and ease of use, and noted that it engages in regular dialogue with governments to advocate for priorities such as user privacy and ease of use. He rejected the criticism.
The company said its outreach efforts focus on issues that could put users’ security and information at risk, as well as other topics such as child safety online and semiconductor manufacturing. .
Apple noted that Cook’s several White House visits were made at the administration’s behest, to sit on National Economic Council panels and consider major legislation such as the CHIPS Act.
Regarding potential antitrust legislation, Apple said it has had constructive dialogue with some members of Congress but remains opposed to the bill.
“We remain concerned that this legislation threatens to disrupt this model and undermine the privacy and security protections that our users rely on,” Apple said in a statement.
“Governments and international organizations around the world have explicitly advised against sideloading requirements. Sideloading requirements empower bad actors to target users, including children, with malware and fraud, “This makes it easier for companies that require large amounts of data to track users without their consent.”
Multiple sources expressed concerns about Apple’s relationship with the U.S. government after it was revealed that a Congressional spending bill had been introduced. It would eliminate funding for the Justice Department’s antitrust division. – Could impair the department’s ability to pursue cases against Apple and other technology companies.
“Apple has a huge war chest to buy out its friends, and the eve of a major enforcement action is when you would expect Apple to call for support,” said one prominent Democrat.
“While Congress and the White House are not subject to Freedom of Information requests, it would be fairly revealing to learn who was under pressure from Apple and its powerful insiders to undermine the antitrust department’s budget. ”
In fact, several members of the Biden administration or associates of the president have deep ties to Apple.
Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco is a former partner at O’Melveny & Myers who worked in Apple’s legal practice in 2020, and former Biden campaign adviser Cynthia Hogan led Apple’s public policy and government affairs from 2016 to 2020. Served as vice president. Olivia Dalton, the House deputy press secretary and longtime Biden aide, recently took a communications job at Apple. reported by bloomberg.
Another key figure is Karen Dunn, a Democratic attorney for the white shoe company Paul Weiss, who has represented Apple on several occasions, including in its antitrust battle with Fortnite maker Epic Games. There is.
Dunn reportedly helped prepare Attorney General Merrick Garland. He worked with former Biden chief of staff Ron Klain during his 2021 Senate confirmation hearings and helped Vice President Kamala Harris prepare for a debate in 2020. Dunn was once reportedly considered as a candidate to head the Justice Department’s antitrust division. The role was later taken over by Jonathan Cantor.
Among the employees who traveled to Washington was Timothy Powdery, Apple’s senior director of government affairs. Lisa Jackson, Vice President for Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives; April Jones, Senior Government Affairs and Policy Advisor; and Eddie Cue, Cook’s confidant and senior vice president of services.
“Apple has too much influence over the entire Biden administration. It certainly looks like there are a lot of people getting FaceTime, and there also seem to be a lot of people doing Apple’s bidding behind the scenes.” A Beltway technology policy official spoke on condition of anonymity.
Meanwhile, Apple spent nearly $9.9 million on federal lobbying efforts in 2023, the most in a single year since 1998. Disclosure information compiled by OpenSecrets. This is up from $9.3 million in 2022 and $6.5 million in 2021.
Overall, Apple’s total federal lobbying spending amounted to $32.4 million from 2020 to 2023. This is an increase from his $25.9 million in the past four years from 2016 to 2019. This spending amount is notable by Apple’s standards, but it’s still below. Meta, Amazon, Google.
Antitrust watchdog groups say Apple also uses a variety of tactics that don’t show up in federal lobbying tallies, including attempts to block or water down legislation that could harm its business. It also includes frequent interventions at the state level.
Additionally, Apple funds a variety of policy-focused third-party groups (at least 40 since 2019, according to one insider), including NetChoice, TechNet, and the Chamber of Progress. has effectively represented the company in legal and regulatory disputes.
Examples include NetChoice and Chamber of Progress. Submitted a brief on behalf of Apple When a high-profile clash with Epic Games made it all the way to the Supreme Court.
Hauser said that in a common but difficult-to-track move to exert influence, Apple and other tech giants fund research and white papers at universities across the country that later support their own policy positions. He pointed out that it is being used to justify or justify.
Powerful lobbying firms used by Apple to avoid unwanted antitrust legislation include Miller Strategies, run by Washington D.C. operative Jeff Miller, who received $680,000 in 2023 alone; included. Most recently, in the fourth quarter of 2020, Miller Strategies revealed that it was helping to “educate” members of Congress. “Possibility of reintroduction” of the Open App Market Act and AICOA.
In one case, Apple hired the lobbying firm Covington & Burling, led by Shara Aranoff, former chair of the International Trade Commission under President Obama, to lobby on its behalf over Apple Watch patent issues. I went there but was unsuccessful. The company paid more than $500,000 for about a month’s worth of work. Politico reported.
The iPhone maker also took steps to shore up its defenses by hiring someone with institutional knowledge of the Justice Department’s cash-strapped antitrust division.
By June 2023, Apple had hired at least 15 former Justice Department employees across its businesses. Among the hires were Senior Counsel Rachel Fripps, a former trial attorney in the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division, and Scott Murray, a former member of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division Telecommunications Task Force.
“Even though they are staff-level people, they have very important knowledge about how the Department of Justice and the FTC approach enforcement, their inner workings, their leadership dynamics, and so on,” Andrea Beatty said. Ta. Director of the revolving door project. “That’s valuable information.”
