I can't say for sure wrt tech industry specifically, but regulatory capture is nothing new.

What do you consider the tech industry? Do you consider Wall St firms to be tech? Do you consider bigPharma to be tech? Do you consider FAANG to be tech?

Here's a link[0] with 2023 lobby spends by industry, but there is no "tech" listing specific. There's an entry for "Internet" listed, which I'm guessing is what you mean by "tech". Another chart[1] breaks down that entry.

If you want to know when each company started to spend money, you could research their public filings.

[0] https://www.statista.com/statistics/257364/top-lobbying-indu...

[1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/1035987/us-leading-inter...

No, the tech market is totally nice, not a bunch of cut-throat thieves who’ll backstab and steal from each other at the drop of a hat.

— Posted from my Xerox

The roots of the tech sector are PC (the libertarian dream of basically zero-cost startups), telecoms (playground of monopolies and regulatory capture), and ad guys who’s main trick is outrunning society’s ability to understand their business model.

The tech industry spends just as much lobbying as other large businesses in the us [1]. Fiduciary duty more or less forces larger corporations to engage in lobbying, considering the great value per dollar spent.

[1]: https://www.opensecrets.org/