Big Tech's $20M lobbying blitz

PLUS: Massive job cuts at Meta and Microsoft

Good morning, tech enthusiasts. Big Tech dropped $20M on federal lobbying in just three months — and that’s only half the story.

Eleven major tech, social media, and AI companies spent roughly $226K a day in Q1 2026, while Anthropic and OpenAI posted record quarters and backed dueling AI liability bills in Illinois. White House dinners aren’t enough anymore — the real power grab is on Capitol Hill.

In today’s tech rundown:

  • Big Tech spends $226K a day to lobby Congress

  • Meta and Microsoft are slashing thousands of jobs

  • Tesla is spending $25B to reinvent itself

  • Instagram tests a stripped-down Snapchat rival

  • Quick hits on other tech news

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

BIG TECH

Image source: Images 2.0 / The Rundown

The Rundown: In the first three months of 2026, 11 tech companies dropped $20M on federal lobbying, according to a new analysis by Issue One, a bipartisan political reform group, cited by Fortune. That’s $226K a day, for 90 days straight.

The details:

  • Meta remains the single biggest spender, burning through nearly $7.1M on federal lobbying between January and March, or about $80K a day.

  • Anthropic posted its biggest-ever lobbying quarter at $1.56M — a 333% jump from Q1 2025 — while OpenAI hit $1M, its own record, up 82% year-over-year.

  • Six of the biggest players — Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, Anthropic, and OpenAI — collectively deployed 307 lobbyists in Q1.

  • AI players have also funneled nearly $200M into super PAC operations ahead of the 2026 midterms.

Why it matters: With nearly $200M in super PAC money layered on top of K Street spending, the industry is lobbying for favorable policy while funding the campaigns of the people who’ll vote on it. Definitions of “catastrophic risk” and liability are being hammered out behind closed doors, before most voters know there’s a debate.

META & MICROSOFT

Image source: Ideogram / The Rundown

The Rundown: Meta and Microsoft are carving tens of thousands of roles out of their payrolls — at the peak of the AI boom — as they scramble to fund record spending on data centers, infrastructure, and elite AI talent.

The details:

  • Meta will cut 10% of its workforce, about 8K employees, on May 20 and leave roughly 6K open positions unfilled, shrinking its headcount by around 14%.

  • Microsoft is offering its first large-scale voluntary buyout program to about 7% of its 125K-person U.S. workforce — some 8,750 employees.

  • Both are plowing billions into AI infrastructure, with Meta guiding to record capex this year and Microsoft building AI data centers from Japan to Australia.

  • The moves come on the eve of April 29 earnings, signaling Wall Street that management is willing to trade headcount for efficiency and margins.

Why it matters: Amazon laid off some 30K workers in the past six months, and Oracle is also cutting thousands of jobs. The Meta and Microsoft staff reductions crystallize a new kind of austerity in Big Tech, where even AI frontrunners treat headcount as the main lever to balance exploding compute and data center budgets.

TESLA

Image source: Tesla / Reve AI

The Rundown: Tesla CEO Elon Musk says that the company is preparing to spend as much as $25B in 2026, a dramatic increase from prior years, as it tries to recast itself as more than an electric-car company.

The details:

  • Tesla is abandoning its historically lean spending model, signaling that the EV era alone isn’t enough to justify its valuation or ambition.

  • Optimus humanoids and robotaxis are the biggest bets, with new manufacturing lines, data centers, and infrastructure all in the budget.

  • Custom AI chip development is a core priority — Tesla wants to own the full stack powering its autonomy push, from silicon to software.

  • New fabs or co-located facilities are part of the buildout, a direct challenge to the leverage Nvidia and Qualcomm hold over the autonomous vehicle industry.

Why it matters: The $25B spend could push Tesla into negative free cash flow for the rest of 2026, even after reporting $1.4B in free cash flow in its most recent quarter. CFO Vaibhav Taneja framed it as a multi-year bet, and with $44.7B in cash on hand, the company can absorb it. But investors will be watching closely to see if it pays off.

META

Image source: Google Play screenshot

The Rundown: Instagram is testing Instants, a stripped-down photo-sharing app launching in Italy and Spain that lets users swap disappearing photos and short videos with close friends, mimicking features from Snapchat, BeReal, and Locket.

The details:

  • Instants lets users send single-view photos and short videos that vanish after 24 hours, with no editing beyond text overlays.

  • Access is limited to mutual followers and close friends, pushing more intimate, private sharing rather than public posting.

  • Instagram says it’s testing "multiple versions" of Instants and hasn't committed to a broader or U.S. rollout.

  • The app riffs on Snapchat’s disappearing messages and BeReal’s “real life, real quick” vibe, adding another project to Meta’s portfolio alongside Threads.

Why it matters: Instagram built its empire on public performance, while Instants may be a nod to a culture that is shifting — younger users don’t want audiences, they want group chats with photo sharing. Whether Instants launches for real outside of limited test runs likely depends on whether Meta sees real retention data.

QUICK HITS

Duolingo is making its advanced-level language-learning content, including features like Advanced Stories, free across nine languages on web, iOS, and Android.

Elon Musk said Tesla’s HW3 cars, about 4M vehicles, will never support unsupervised Full Self-Driving and will need trade-ins or retrofits to reach his robotaxi vision.

Tim Cook reportedly told employees his biggest mistake as Apple CEO was launching the flawed Apple Maps app in 2012, while his proudest achievement is the Apple Watch.

Fintech giant Revolut is targeting an eventual IPO valuation of up to $200B, more than doubling its current $75B private-market valuation.

Meta is adding an Insights tab to its parental supervision tools that lets parents see topics their teens discussed with Meta AI across Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram.

Sinceerly is a new Chrome plugin that deliberately adds minor typos to AI-written emails so they look naturally human‑written rather than polished by a chatbot.

Amazon is bringing 75 Einride-run electric big rigs and charging hubs into its U.S. Relay freight network, giving the Swedish startup a foothold in Amazon’s operations.

Norway plans to introduce a law banning social media use for children under 16, forcing tech companies to verify users’ ages amid rising concerns.

Chinese EV maker Xpeng plans to begin large-scale production of its “flying” cars in 2026 and expects deliveries in 2027, alongside launching humanoids and robotaxis.

Amazon is launching a GLP-1 weight-loss program that folds obesity care into primary care and links it to Amazon Pharmacy for same-day drug delivery.

China found a new, rare phosphate mineral in a lunar meteorite, marking the 11th known Moon mineral, with potential applications in LED tech.

Researchers built a smart contact lens that uses microfluidic channels to both monitor eye pressure in glaucoma and automatically release medication.

COMMUNITY

That's it for today's tech rundown!

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Rowan, Joey, Zach, Shubham, and Jennifer — The Rundown’s editorial team

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