Lobbying is tracked and google spent over 33% more than Comcast - in your own words - bribing members of Congress.
Probably because they saw what happened when Microsoft tried to ignore Washington, DC. altogether. Can you blame Google for realizing that they couldn't just turn their backs on the game?
Google has long used lobbying for business objectives. For example, because Google profits from being a middle man for content created by other people, Google has lobbied for weaker copyright protections. Joel Splosky calls this "commoditizing your complement": https://www.gwern.net/Complement, and it explains Google's political positions to a tee. The idea that they were "forced" into it is wishful rationalization.
That's one perspective. Another school of thought says that both the extent and duration of copyright protection is counterproductive if not batshit insane, and lobbying for copyright liberalization benefits almost everyone regardless of the underlying motivation.
It's an unfortunate side effect of the current system. Either no one should be able to influence legislation, or you're going to be negatively impacted by choosing not to.
That said, I'm in favor of the former. Citizens United has been a pox on representatives representing their constituents, which has made lobbying all the more effective and easy.
