Lobbying has always been a part of a moral grey area that exists within the practice of representative democracy. While there are few laws explicitly forbidding it in most nations, lobbying is still looked upon as legal bribery with another name. Even in India, there are no strict rules that prevent or limit the scope of lobbying and companies like retail powerhouse Walmart have run their own lobbying campaigns to attain a favourable climate for their business interest.
In the US, lobbying is more of a norm than an anomaly. In 2011, an investment study by the research firm Strategas showed that lobbying generally pays off quite well as an incredibly sound investment. Throwing financial support behind a US Presidential candidate not only ensures favourable disposition towards certain concerns but also increases the likelihood that the winner may even go so far as to offer positions within his administration to these backers. Indeed, Trump offered many positions of influence and official power to many of his top donors, stacking six of his cabinet positions with these donors, more than any other President before him. It is easy to see how such appointments can shape policy outcomes for a particular administration with conflict of interests being overlooked in the name of getting 'successful people' to do the job.
It is in this context that the significant support being given to the Joe Biden campaign by big tech companies is being viewed with growing trepidation. Amazon, Google and Microsoft are all part of the five biggest contributors to the Biden campaign. Coming at a time when administrations across the world and particularly at home are growing increasingly critical of big tech and its unrestricted use of data, it becomes easy to see why big tech would want a friend in the White House to shield them from an increasingly critical body of US lawmakers. Of course, it must be mentioned that big tech's relationship with the Democratic Party is not new. This long-running association resulted in President Obama taking a hands-off approach for governing tech companies, a policy position that many do not want to see repeated at a time when it is becoming clear that big tech does indeed need to be a meaningful system of government oversight into its behind closed doors working. Joe Biden made many of his connections to big tech during his time as Obama's Vice-President.
That said, it is not like cosying up with the Biden campaign offers big tech companies any guarantees. For one thing, there is increasing outrage against tech companies from both sides of the political aisle in the US with lawmakers on both sides concerned with limiting what they see as the corrupting tendency of uncontrolled big tech. Even within the Democratic Party, the more left-leaning liberals like Bernie Sanders have revealed an undisguised mistrust of big tech and its claims of self-governance. Biden himself has taken a stance against the 'abuse of power and trust' by tech companies that have dodged responsibility for their actions so far. While Biden has proposed greater regulation and a minimum federal tax that these companies should pay, at the same time he has not shown support for the true big-ticket item in regards to tech in the US — the idea of breaking up big tech companies to prevent the consolidation of monopolies. Conversely, it must be noted that Kamala Harris has, in fact, vowed to have a serious look at dismantling companies like Facebook in the future. Above all, both Trump and Biden have expressed mistrust at the way that big tech handles data, calling for more stringent data protection regulations in the United States.
And so, despite his occasionally antagonistic stands against tech companies, why is big tech donating in record numbers to the Biden campaign? Because, as most analysts put it, what they are buying is not favourable legislation but rather access to the potential President Biden's policy making circles. It isn't realistic to expect a career politician like Joe Biden to mistake the general atmosphere of mistrust regarding big tech as an invitation to allow tech companies a free hand in regulating data and paying zero federal taxes. Ultimately, as a middle of the line moderate, Biden will have to play the game of balancing all sides.