MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., April 23 (UPI) -- U.S. Internet giant Google increased spending on lobbying to $1.48 million in the first quarter, official records show.
The company, which has been hit with investigations concerning its privacy policies and its purchase of air fare monitoring company ITA Software, increased its lobbying outlays by 7 percent compared with the same period a year ago, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday.
Google's lobbying expenditures fell short of Microsoft Corp., which spent $1.7 million on lobbying in the first quarter.
Facebook also has increased its lobbying recently but remains far behind the other two technology giants.
Facebook spent $230,000 on lobbying in the first quarter, a drop in the bucket compared with Google and Microsoft but still a 500-percent increase over what it spent in the first quarter of 2010, records show.
