Oracle’s top lobbyist in Washington met privately with Senate staffers this spring about the company’s data-sharing agreement with TikTok, following the passage of a bill in the House of Representatives in mid-March that would effectively ban the social media app in the United States could.
Oracle acts as a data center for US TikTok users. The House legislation would require China-based TikTok parent company ByteDance to divest the social media app or face a ban in the United States.
“We had four meetings, primarily to discuss the technical remedies of the data storage project,” said Oracle EVP Ken Glueck, who described the previously unreported discussions to CNBC on Monday.
To organize the meetings, Oracle turned to two lobbying firms: Fierce Government Relations and Polaris Government Relations, according to Glueck and newly filed disclosure reports.
Glueck led discussions with staff from the Senate Commerce Committee and the Intelligence Committee, he said. Two of the meetings took place in person and two took place via Zoom, he added.
Glueck said Oracle did not lobby for or against the TikTok bill and only disclosed the meetings on mandatory filings to ensure transparency.
If TikTok is banned, Oracle could face financial headwinds, according to market analysts.
“In the scenario of a TikTok ban or shutdown, Oracle would likely lose its largest OCI [Oracle Cloud Infrastructure] Customer. “That would be negative, you can’t sugarcoat it,” analysts at UBS said in a research note. The deal between TikTok and Oracle is reportedly worth $1 billion.
The Commerce Committee is chaired by Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., while Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va. heads the Intelligence Committee.
Although the original House bill briefly stalled in the Senate, a similar bill passed the House on Saturday and is already gaining significant support in the Senate.
Both Cantwell and Warner have said it could take up to a year for TikTok to be successfully divested by ByteDance if President Joe Biden puts a ban into effect.
News of the meetings came after TikTok’s lobbyists reportedly complained to lawmakers that Oracle had not done enough to lobby against the legislation. TikTok has spent millions on advertising and other lobbying to prevent Congress from passing the law.
Records show Oracle paid Fierce $90,000 and Polaris $80,000 in the first three months of the year. They were the only two outside firms that Oracle paid this quarter that focused on this issue. The services reportedly included providing “technical assistance” to congressional offices regarding TikTok legislation.
The Internal Revenue Service defines this type of assistance as when lawmakers turn to industry experts, particularly when a bill is being considered in Congress.
According to disclosures, Oracle has one of the most impressive internal lobbying shops in Washington and said it has spent more than $2.4 million year to date to influence policy. This included internal lobbying at TikTok, among a dozen other issues.
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2024-04-22 23:36:53
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