Why is Google spending record sums on lobbying Washington?

Figures released last week show that Google

spent a record amount of almost $6m lobbying in Washington DC in the past three months, putting the Silicon Valleybehemoth on track to be the top corporate lobbying spender in the US. Last year it ranked No 2, behind Comcast.

Given the increased antitrust scrutiny that is coming from the Democrats’ new “Better Deal” policy platform, Donald Trump’s random tweets attacking Google’s fellow tech giant Amazon for its connection to the Washington Post, and his adviser Steve Bannon’s recent comments that Google and Facebook should be regulated as utilities, it is likely Google will only increase its lobbying expenditure in the next few months.

Source https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jul/30/google-silicon-valley-corporate-lobbying-washington-dc-politics