A closer look at Big Tech’s third party funding disclosures

Written By Jon Schweppe

As we discuss on this site, Google, Amazon, Apple, and Facebook all have some level of disclosure about “third party” groups they fund. These are usually buried in an obscure PDF on their shareholder information website, or within political advocacy disclosures. From what we’ve heard, the practice of disclosing these contributions originated in shareholder activism. But each company does it a little bit differently, and they all leave out important information while make it unnecessarily cumbersome.

Google

Google’s third party disclosure notes that: “This document is updated biannually and includes a list of politically-engaged trade associations, independent third-party organizations and other tax-exempt groups that receive the most substantial contributions from Google’s U.S. Government Affairs and Public Policy team.”

Amazon

Amazon’s third party disclosure list includes groups receiving: “Payments of $10,000 or more made through the Company’s Public Policy Office to U.S.-based trade associations, coalitions, nonprofits, and social welfare organizations.” Notably, this may not include funding from other teams which have their own budgets.

Facebook

Facebook’s third party funding disclosure list separates associations (e.g. membership organizations and trade groups) from other third party groups (e.g. think tanks and advocacy groups). Beyond this, it does not specify criteria for inclusion, update frequency, or much other information. We were not able to locate past funding data.

Apple

Apple’s third party funding disclosure list includes trade associations only. Beyond that, it does not include much other information. We were not able to locate past data.

How to improve disclosures by Big Tech companies

Companies should be urged to implement the following improvements:

  1. Publish disclosures as structured, machine-readable data and update it quarterly.

  2. Publish funding amounts or ranges (other companies, like Oracle, already do this in their disclosures).

  3. Publish third party funding for all teams and all countries, including passthrough entities like PR and lobbying firms. Include payments to individuals with public-facing content, such as Op-Eds or social media posts.

  4. Make data for previous years easy to access (Amazon already does this).

  5. Don’t conceal project-based support as general operating support. Provide relevant information about what issues (and legislative advocacy) are being funded.

  6. Require or encourage grant recipients to be more transparent about where the money is coming from when there’s a potential conflict of interest.

  7. Don’t claim a tax write off for donations to 501(c)(3) nonprofits that are really for lobbying and advocacy.

How to improve disclosures by third party groups

Trade groups work on behalf of industry, and this is assumed to be part of their work. On the other hand, think tanks and advocacy groups are assumed to be independent. This latter group should be urged to implement the following transparency improvements:

  1. Disclose which Big Tech companies support them and provide amounts or ranges (as groups like the Brookings Institution already do).

  2. Add disclosures to publications that mention Big Tech companies or the issues they lobby on (as groups like the Niskanen Center already do).

Jon Schweppe
Next

Which conservative groups take Big Tech money?