2017年，谷歌在华盛顿的影响（游说支出）首次超过其他公司 [美国媒体]

Google for the first time spent more than any other company in 2017 to influence Washington, highlighting both the sprawling reach of the country's thriving tech industry and the rising concern by regulators and lawmakers of its ascendance.

在2017年，Google首次花费比其他公司更多的资金去影响华盛顿，这突出地表明了国内高科技产业的蓬勃发展以及监管机构和立法者日益关注这些产业的优势。

All told, the search giant broke its own record by allocating more than $18 million to lobby Congress, federal agencies and the White House on issues such as immigration, tax reform, and antitrust. It also spent money to weigh in on an effort by lawmakers and regulators to regulate online advertising, which is at the core of Google's business, according to disclosures filed to the Senate Office of Public Records.

总而言之，这个搜索巨头通过支出超过1800万美元的资金来游说国会、联邦机构和白宫，进而解决移民、税改和反垄断等问题。游说支出打破了谷歌以往的记录。根据提交给参议院公共记录办公室的文件披露，谷歌还花了大量的钱来影响立法者和监管者的工作，以规范谷歌业务的核心-在线广告。

The nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics said Tuesday no technology firm had ever claimed the top spot since it began tracking lobbying expenditures by individual companies in 1998.

无党派的政治反应中心星期二说，自从1998年跟踪个别公司的游说开支以来，没有一家技术型公司占据过游说开支的最高位置。

Google was not the only tech giant to ramp up spending in the nation's capital. Facebook, Amazon and Apple all broke their own company records by pouring money into lobbying operations. Facebook increased spending by 32 percent in 2017 over the previous year, while Apple increased its expenditures by 51 percent. Combined, the four companies devoted about $50 million toward lobbying efforts during President Trump's first year in office.

谷歌并不是唯一一个在国内游说支出增加的科技巨头。Facebook，亚马逊和苹果公司都通过向游说工作投入资金，打破了自己公司以往的记录。2017年，Facebook的支出比前一年增加了32％，而苹果的支出增加了51％。在特朗普执政的第一年，这四家公司共投入了5000万美元用于游说工作。

Last year was pivotal for Silicon Valley and the broader world of tech. Industry executives publicly clashed with the president on hot button issues, such as immigration and climate change. Social media companies were hammered by lawmakers for allowing Russian operatives to spread divisive content on their platforms before and after the 2016 presidential election. And the potential for tech companies to abuse their market power is drawing scrutiny from regulators.

去年是硅谷和其它科技行业的关键时期。科技行业的高管们在移民和气候变化等热点问题上与总统公开发生冲突。社交媒体公司因为允许俄罗斯人在2016年总统选举前后在其平台上传播分裂内容而受到立法者的打击。科技公司是否滥用市场力量也正在受到监管机构的审查。

Despite soaring profits and stock prices, the industry also faced public backlash, as issues such as sexual harassment, the spread of hate speech, and political bias by tech companies gained greater currency in the national debate.

尽管利润和股价飙升，科技行业依然面临着强烈的舆论压力，例如性骚扰，仇恨言论传播以及科技公司的政治偏见等问题在全国舆论中经久不衰。

Corporate lobbying typically has been dominated by telecom, energy or defense firms. Last year, the other top spenders were AT&T, Boeing, and Comcast. But tech companies have been quickly rising within the ranks of big Washington spenders for years.

企业游说通常是电信，能源或防务公司占大头。去年，游说支出最多的是AT＆T，波音和康卡斯特。但是科技公司在华盛顿的游说支出行列中迅速崛起多年。

Google, long the industry leader on federal lobbying, boosted its spending by nearly 17 percent over 2016. The company's Washington operation paid close attention to proposed legislation, introduced in October, that would require Web companies to create a public database of political ads that run on their platforms, including details of the purchaser's contract, the intended audience, price, and the number of views the ads generate. The lawmakers behind the bill say the rules will help prevent Russia and other foreign powers from exploiting popular online platforms. Both Facebook and Google have told federal election officials they are open to greater oversight over the lucrative business of online political advertising.

长期以来，Google一直是联邦游说行业的领导者，它的支出比2016年增加了近17％。该公司的华盛顿业务密切关注10月份提出的立法建议，该法案要求网络公司创建一个包括买方合同的细节，目标受众，价格以及广告产生的观看次数的运行政治广告的公共数据库在他们的平台上。该法案背后的立法者说，这些规定将有助于防止俄罗斯和其他大国利用流行的社交网络。 Facebook和谷歌都告诉联邦选举官员，他们愿意对利润丰厚的在线政治广告业务进行更强的监督。

Google did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

谷歌没有回复记者的一再提出的相关问题。

Facebook spent more than $11 million on federal lobbying in 2017. In recent weeks, the social media giant has been wrestling with the implications of its global influence, even admitting in a blog post this week that social media can sometimes harm democracy.

Facebook在2017年花费了超过1100万美元的联邦游说资金。近几周来，这家社交媒体巨头一直在琢磨其全球影响力，甚至在本周的博客文章中承认，社交媒体有时会损害民主。

In addition to lobbying the federal government on online advertising, Facebook also focused on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, net neutrality and international tax policy. Facebook declined to comment.

除了游说联邦政府进行在线广告之外，Facebook还专注于“儿童移民延期行动”，网络中立和国际税收政策。
Facebook拒绝就此置评。

Amazon, which is considering three different locations in the Washington region to build its second headquarters, spent nearly $13 million in lobbying last year, a 16 percent increase from 2016. Amazon lobbied on issues such as corporate tax reform, immigration, and the Whole Foods acquisition. (Amazon chief executive Jeffrey P. Bezos owns The Washington Post)

正在考虑把第二个总部建在华盛顿哪个地点的亚马逊，去年花费近1300万美元进行游说，比2016年增长了16％，主要花费在诸如企业税改，移民和Whole Foods收购等问题上。（亚马逊首席执行官Jeffrey P. Bezos拥有华盛顿邮报）

The company's $13.7 billion purchase of Whole Foods sparked criticism from some lawmakers and industry analysts who say that current antitrust law is ill-equipped to address a tech dominated corporate landscape, where troves of consumer data and operations that span several industries offer Web giants unfair advantages.

137亿美元收购Whole Foods引发了一些立法者和行业分析师的批评，他们认为，目前的反垄断法没有足够的能力来应对以科技为主导的企业格局，在这些领域，消费者数据和业务遍布多个行业，为网络巨头提供了不公平的优势。

Brian Huseman, Amazon's vice president of public policy, said in a statement, “As one of the biggest job creators in the country, we’ve expanded our team in Washington, D.C. to ensure we are able to cover the growing range of topics that are important to policymakers, our employees and our customers.”

亚马逊公共政策副总裁Brian Huseman在一份声明中表示：“作为该国最大的就业创造者之一，我们已经在华盛顿扩大了我们的团队，以确保我们能够覆盖越来越多的问题，这对政策制定者、我们的员工和我们的客户都很重要。”

Apple spent just over $7 million, an increase of 51 percent from 2016. The company lobbied on issues including climate change, mobile medical apps and autonomous vehicles. Apple did not respond to a request for comment.

苹果公司花费了700多万美元，比2016年增长了51％。该公司游说了包括气候变化，移动医疗应用程序和自动驾驶汽车等问题。
苹果没有回应评论请求。

The tech industry's ballooning lobbying budgets may also be an indication that the companies will fight hard to protect the data they are collecting on Americans, said Alvaro Bedoya, executive director of the Center on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown University. Bedoya worries that the government will now struggle to pass new and meaningful consumer protection laws.

乔治敦大学隐私与技术中心执行主任Alvaro Bedoya表示，科技行业蓬勃发展的游说预算也可能表明这些公司将努力保护他们收集的有关美国人的数据。 Bedoya担心政府现在会努力通过新的和有意义的消费者保护法。

“Because this is the first time in American history that the giants of industry have as their raw material personal data, [tech companies] are going to do as much as possible to protect access to that raw material,” Bedoya said.

Bedoya说：“由于这是美国历史上第一次行业巨头把个人数据做为他们的原材料，科技公司将尽可能地保护获取的原材料。

Others said the increase in lobbying simply coincides with the tech sector's rapid growth and larger role in society.

其他人则表示，游说支出的增加恰好与科技行业的快速发展与其更大社会作用，相符合。

“These are companies that are touching so many parts of the economy, they are touching so many parts of our geography. So it's inevitable that they are going to engage in a host of political and policy issues,” said Julie Samuels, the executive director of Tech: NYC, a group that represents New York-based tech firms. Samuels added that Silicon Valley has also had to adjust to a new political order, under a Republican administration. “Many tech companies had only been real players during the Obama administration. They had a lot to learn.”

“这些公司正在接触经济各个方面，地理的各个方面。因此，他们将不得不参与一系列政治和政策问题，”纽约技术公司Tech：NYC的执行董事Julie Samuels说。Samuels补充说，在共和党政府的管理下，硅谷也不得不适应新的政治秩序。 “许多科技公司在奥巴马政府期间只是参与者，他们还要学习一个。”