Emails reveal how Amazon and Google tap friends in government to influence policies. Critics say there's too much 'coziness' with Big Tech. Hugh Langley 8–10 minutes
Critics say Big Tech has an outsize role in shaping government policy.
Emails show close ties between US trade officials and former colleagues now working in Big Tech.
The activist group Demand Progress says the US trade department has a "culture problem."
In 2022, 82.4% of Amazon lobbyists and 81.3% of Alphabet lobbyists previously held government jobs, according to data from OpenSecrets.
Critics have long claimed this revolving door lets Big Tech companies take an outsize role in shaping trade agreements to protect their bottom lines and limit how they can be regulated. In May, Sen. Elizabeth Warren claimed in a report that emails sent between Big Tech companies and the Office of the United States Trade Representative revealed a pattern of Big Tech getting "unparalleled access" to trade officials — including the US trade representative, Katherine Tai — to shape decisions on policies like digital tariffs in their favor.
"Big Tech uses its special revolving door access to furtively push for rigged trade policies," Warren wrote.
Insider reviewed a set of emails sent between USTR members and lobbyists from Google and Amazon from April 2022 to May 2023, which the advocacy group Demand Progress obtained in a Freedom of Information Act request and shared exclusively with Insider.
The emails highlight what Demand Progress calls a "coziness" between Big Tech and trade officials. Some emails show close ties between USTR officials and former colleagues who now work in Big Tech, which critics say gives tech companies immediate and direct access to policymakers that civil society groups don't enjoy.
The emails are limited to correspondence with Amazon and Google lobbyists and do not include communications with representatives of other tech companies.
"All USTR staff maintain a high level of ethical transparency and would never give favored treatment to certain industries or individuals," a USTR spokesperson told Insider in a statement.
The spokesperson also said Tai had been meeting with workers and small-business owners to "ensure their perspectives are included in the development and implementation of US trade policy." 'USTR has a culture problem'
Emails show trade officials reaching out to tech lobbyists for guidance on issues, updating them on the status of bills, and even giving them a heads-up on discussions held behind closed doors.
In May, Andrea Boron, a USTR director for services and digital trade, emailed Google and Amazon to flag that Brazil's telecoms agency was considering imposing network fees on digital service providers including Google and asked for advice on negotiations.
A USTR spokesperson said the email was meant to obtain "more information at a time of uncertainty."
"At no point did USTR ask for Google or Amazon's help in forming a position on this proposed regulation, nor did we seek their help in drafting comments," the spokesperson added.
Several former USTR employees went on to work as lobbyists on behalf of Amazon and Google, including Mary Thornton, who was previously a USTR director and until recently a top lobbyist at Amazon Web Services. Karan Bhatia, Google's global head of government affairs, served as a deputy US trade representative from 2005 to 2007 and is seen in many of the emails.
Karan Bhatia google global policy chief Karan Bhatia, Google's global head of government affairs. Byun Young-Wook/Getty Images
Some emails underscore access that the tech giants are granted in important policy discussions. In June 2022, the digital trade director Jillian DeLuna sent a photo of an e-commerce presentation from a closed-off conference to Thornton, and they discussed when the material would be allowed to be shared.
An Amazon spokesperson said this was because Thornton served on a congressionally mandated government committee, where she could receive confidential information from the USTR.
In October 2022, Bhatia emailed Tai to raise flags about then-pending Canadian laws that would require tech giants to pay for news content and require sites including YouTube, Amazon Prime, and Spotify to promote Canadian content.
Two months later, Kate Kalutkiewicz, then an Amazon lobbyist (and also a former USTR staffer), emailed USTR staff thanking them for raising concerns over the bill during a meeting with Canada's minister of international trade. "Your action on behalf of American companies was incredibly impactful, and very appreciated," she wrote. Canada's Online News Act still became law in June.
"These emails are more evidence of what we've known for some time: USTR has a culture problem," said Maria Langholz, the communications director for Demand Progress. "There is way too much coziness with Big Tech and other corporate interests."
An Amazon spokesperson told Insider in a statement: "Like many other American companies with significant domestic investments and job creation, we advocate on issues that are important to our customers and our sellers, and that includes maintaining open lines of communication with officials across all levels of government." Big Tech's policy influence comes to a head in Asia
In a move that has encouraged some critics, Tai last month announced the US would withdraw proposals made under the Trump administration that would have made it harder to regulate Big Tech firms and their AI systems.
That reversal has led to turbulence in talks over the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, an effort launched by the Biden administration to give countries in Asia an economic alternative to China, which critics say the tech industry is too involved in.
In an email sent in March, Amazon's Thornton thanked a USTR official, Ethan Holmes, for organizing a briefing between some Big Tech companies and US negotiators during an IPEF summit in Bali.
President Joe Biden in a suit with his hands clasped in front of him. President Joe Biden at an Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity launch event in Tokyo last year. Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
A USTR spokesperson told Insider it was standard practice for the USTR to brief its advisory committees.
In a Senate hearing that same month, Warren called out USTR officials for keeping the content of that Bali meeting confidential while allowing tech companies like Amazon and Google into the room and have their say. "That's just not right," Warren said. "This text should be public."
A Google spokesperson, José Castañeda, said the company had pushed for the IPEF to include "strong digital trade provisions." "Along with startups, small businesses, and others, we will continue to advocate for policies that help consumers and small businesses, and support economic growth," he said.
Big Tech critics say this access to policymakers is not granted to the public or civil-society groups, and that's why Warren and others have called for more transparency.
"Big Tech lobbyists, especially those with past ties to the agencies, are frequently called upon by USTR as consultants and partners, giving corporate interests a say in nearly every part of the trade policymaking process," Warren wrote in her May report, titled "Big Tech's Big Con," later concluding: "Americans deserve to know what trade negotiators are up to and that they are working in the public interest."