Meta Shatters Lobbying Record as House Passes TikTok Ban (2024)
A new disclosure reveals Instagram owner Meta spent more than ever on lobbing Congress and the White House as legislation to potentially ban its competitor, TikTok, was drawn up and passed.
Meta Platforms and its subsidiaries spent a record high $7.6 million on lobbying the federal government in the first quarter of the year as the U.S. Congress advanced legislation that could ban Instagram’s chief competitor, TikTok.
Meta’s recent disclosure, covering lobbying activities from January through March, does not mention the TikTok ban issue directly, but it says that the company lobbied Congress and the White House on “Homeland Security” topics including “Discussions regarding cybersecurity, data security, encryption, platform integrity, election integrity, content policy, and terrorism,” as well as “Issues related to voter suppression/interference, political ads and misinformation policies.” The language in Meta’s disclosure echoes many of the talking points that have been used against TikTok and its Chinese owner ByteDance, including claims that China could use the app to collect Americans’ private data and influence U.S. politics.
Meta did not respond when asked by Sludge if it lobbied on the TikTok ban legislation. It has previously denied lobbying on a TikTok ban to the Washington Post.
The $7.6 million that Meta spent on lobbying in the first quarter is by far the most it has ever spent. Its second-highest-spending quarter was the fourth quarter of 2021, when it reported spending $5.4 million.
In March, the U.S. House of Representatives initially approved the bill forcing TikTok to be sold by ByteDance or be banned, and it passed it again this past weekend as part of a larger package that includes foreign aid for Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan. Those measures have been packaged into a single measure that is currently being considered in the Senate, where it is expected to pass. President Joe Biden has said he would sign the potential TikTok ban into law if it passes through both chambers of Congress and is presented to him.
Meta Platforms and its subsidiaries spent a record high $7.6 million on lobbying the federal government in the first quarter of the year as the U.S. Congress advanced legislation that could ban Instagram's chief competitor, TikTok.
— The Zionist women's advocacy group Hadassah and the Anti-Defamation League lobbied on the TikTok proposal after the app faced scrutiny over antisemitism on its platform in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war — as well as allegations that the push for its ban was a Jewish conspiracy.
President Biden signed National Security Act, 2024 into law on April 24, 2024. The act includes the TikTok divest or ban bill. Under the terms of the bill signed by Biden, ByteDance will have nine months to divest itself of TikTok and find new ownership for the social media company.
Concerns that the Chinese government could access sensitive user data through the short-form video app TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, have prompted the U.S. government to pass legislation banning the social media platform unless it is sold to a government-approved buyer.
Rather, the overarching theme here is that if TikTok were to be outright banned in the U.S., Meta would likely benefit by gobbling up advertising dollars that would otherwise have gone to competitors. While this theory warrants merit, it's still speculative and not yet a proven outcome.
Google, Meta, or any other tech company with a large social media presence would raise antitrust issues if they look to buy TikTok. “If it's Amazon, Microsoft, Google, or Meta, I just think you're going to see substantial antitrust concern.” He continued to say that Verizon or AT&T may not face such problems.
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