Google’s parent company Alphabet was the top spender on Washington lobbyists in 2017

Google parent Alphabet Inc. outspent all other companies on lobbying Washington bureaucrats and politicians in 2017, a year in which it and other tech giants were hauled before legislators probing Russian influence in the 2016 election.

The search giant doled out $13.6 million on lobbying firms like Prime Policy Group and Gephardt Group, edging out the $13.2 million spent by AT&T, which is facing government opposition to its takeover of Time Warner Inc. for $85 billion. The figures were compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.

Lawyers from Google, Facebook and Twitter were grilled by lawmakers the week of Nov. 1 for not preventing abuse of their platforms by Russian agents masquerading as Americans.

Alphabet’s spending actually fell 12 per cent compared to 2016, but AT&T also cut back.