Apple Steps Up Lobbying in Washington to Counter Government Scrutiny

Apple is becoming more of a regular around Washington. While co-founder Steve Jobs shunned the nation’s capital, Apple lobbied the White House, Congress and 13 departments and agencies from the Food and Drug Administration to the Federal Trade Commission in 2014 through the third quarter, according to OpenSecrets.org. In 2009, Apple lobbied only Congress and six agencies. It’s all part of a broader push by Apple CEO Tim Cook, who took the reins in 2011, to make the company more open while laying the groundwork for new products that naturally attract more government scrutiny. That includes Apple Watch, the smartwatch arriving in stores in 2015, which has applications that track user health data.