Big Tech spent $39 million to influence state politics last year, making 2025 a blockbuster year of spending for Meta, Google and other technology companies that want to push their agenda to California officials.
As CalMatters’ Jeremia Kimelman explains, the upcoming election, disputes over artificial intelligence regulation and the growth of the cryptocurrency industry have prompted Big Tech to spend big bucks on political campaigns, donate to nonprofit organizations and hire lobbyists.
The $39 million makes the tech industry the top political spender in California, alongside the oil and gas industry, giving tech companies an outsized influence in Sacramento, critics say.
- Catherine Bracy, founder of the nonprofit TechEquity, which is in favor of AI regulation: “There’s a question of why (tech companies) have to spend so much money. And that’s because they’re on the wrong side of history, and people don’t like them very much.”
Since the current two-year legislative session began in December 2024, the state Legislature has considered more than 50 bills that would regulate AI. Meta spent nearly $30 million in 2025 to influence California politics, including $20 million toward a political committee it created that supports candidates who are in favor of AI deregulation. On lobbying state officials alone, the company spent at least $4.6 million — far more than any other year since 2010, when it began advocating at the state Capitol.
Crypto companies — which are fairly new tech players buying influence across the state — have also ramped up their spending. Coinbase spent $200,000 on state lobbying last year, including $60,000 to the California Democratic Party.
The industry’s political spending has proven consequential before: Two years ago, it poured $10 million into a campaign blitz that helped knock out then-Rep. Katie Porter, a critic of the crypto industry, from the California Senate race.
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Other Stories You Should Know
Lawmakers request audit of CA fusion centers
As President Donald Trump continues his crackdown on immigration, fusion centers could be the next battleground between the federal administration and immigration advocates, writes CalMatters’ Khari Johnson.
Established nationwide after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack, these state-owned facilities are centers where federal, state and local agencies share and review security intelligence with one another.
Advocacy groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, have pushed lawmakers to audit the facilities for privacy violations that run afoul of state law. State legislators voted last week to audit the operations of five California fusion centers.
One incident advocates pointed to involved U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents reportedly asking local police to run searches for the federal agency at a Santa Ana fusion center. Past investigations by CalMatters revealed that local law enforcement agencies unlawfully shared license plate information with ICE or Border Patrol.
College-ready students in Compton
Though the student body at Compton Unified’s Dominguez High is among the poorest in the state, its high school seniors have one distinguishing feature: A far higher percentage of them are prepared to attend a California public university than their peers across the state, report CalMatters’ Mikhail Zinshteyn and Carolyn Jones.
To get into the University of California or California State University, high school students are required to pass a suite of classes, known as A-G courses, which include four years of English, three years of math, one year of art and more.
Last spring, 96% of Dominguez High graduates were A-G ready — a standout rate considering that 46% of graduating seniors at traditional high schools haven’t passed the required courses, according to a CalMatters analysis. Looking at data from the 2024-25 school year for 1,468 public high schools, CalMatters also found that 222 of those schools posted A-G completion rates of less than 30%.
Schools may have low A-G rates for many reasons: Some don’t offer them while others have students who don’t pass a key math or science course. Only a few districts make these classes part of the graduation requirement.
And lastly: Bill seeks to narrow CEQA carveouts
A Democratic state senator introduced a bill that would require some manufacturing facilities located near poor or heavily polluted communities undergo environmental review. The proposal reinstates some mandates that were broadly exempted under last year’s overhaul of a landmark environmental law. Read more from CalMatters’ Alejandra Reyes-Velarde.
California Voices
After more than 100 years, the question of whether the Constitution guarantees “birthright citizenship” will appear again before the U.S. Supreme Court, but California’s largely forgotten 1867 election already revealed the answer, writes Brian J. Johnson, an attorney living in San Francisco.
California’s private foster care agencies are demanding another bailout to cover rising costs, but they should first clean up their acts regarding children who were abused or neglected under their watch before more taxpayers funds are diverted to them, writes Richard Wexler, executive director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform.
Other things worth your time:
Kash Patel’s push against CA Rep. Swalwell raises concerns within FBI // The Washington Post
CA farmers were already struggling. Then came the Iran war // Los Angeles Times
Kaiser made $9.3B last year. Critics say it has strayed from its charitable mission // Los Angeles Times
How rising gas prices are changing the math on owning an EV in CA // San Francisco Chronicle
After viral SFO arrest, city moves to require SFPD to ID federal agents // The San Francisco Standard
Gov. Newsom issues ‘final warning’ to cities over housing law violations — only one is in the Bay Area // The Mercury News
‘No Kings’ protests draw huge crowds across the Bay Area // KQED
No Kings brought out protesters across LA region; 75 arrests made in downtown LA // LAist
San Diego loses population as immigration nosedives. What are the consequences? // The San Diego Union-Tribune
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