In this illustration, taken on September 14, 2020, a smartphone with the Tik Tok logo can be seen in front of a displayed Oracle logo.
Ruvik Dice | Reuters
Oracle’s top lobbyist in Washington met privately with Senate aides this spring to discuss the company’s data storage deal with TikTok, after a bill that would have effectively banned the social media app in the U.S. passed the House in mid-March .
Oracle serves as a data center for TikTok users in the United States. House legislation would require TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance to divest the social media app or face an eventual ban in the United States.
“We held four meetings to discuss technical mitigation measures for the data storage project,” said Oracle’s executive vice president. Ken GluckOn Monday, he described previously unreported talks to CNBC.
To arrange the meeting, Oracle turned to two lobbying firms: Fierce GovernmentRelations and Polaris GovernmentRelations, according to newly filed disclosure reports.
Gluck led discussions with staff on the Senate Commerce and Intelligence committees, he said. He added that two of the meetings were in person and two were held via Zoom.
Gluck said Oracle did not lobby for or against the TikTok bill and only disclosed meetings about the mandatory filing in the interest of transparency.
Market analysts said Oracle could face financial headwinds if TikTok is banned.
“In the event of a TikTok ban or shutdown, Oracle would lose what is probably its largest OCI (Oracle Cloud Infrastructure) customer. This would be a negative impact and there is no sugarcoating it.” analyst UBS said in a research note.Deal between TikTok and Oracle reportedly worth a fortune $1 billion.
The Commerce Committee is chaired by Sens. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Mark Warner, D-Virginia. Leads the Intelligence Committee.
While the original House bill briefly stalled in the Senate, a similar bill passed the House on Saturday and has received key Senate support.
Both Cantwell and Warner said it could take TikTok up to a year to successfully spin off BitDance if President Joe Biden signs the ban into law.
News of the meeting comes after TikTok lobbyists It is said Complained to lawmakers that Oracle wasn’t doing enough to lobby against the legislation. TikTok spent millions of dollars on advertising and other lobbying efforts to try to stop the bill from passing Congress.
Records show that Oracle paid Fierce $90,000 and Polaris $80,000 in the first three months of this year. They are the only two outside companies focused on this issue that Oracle pays quarterly. According to disclosures, these services include providing “technical assistance” to congressional offices on TikTok legislation.
The IRS defines this type of assistance as lawmakers looking to industry experts for guidance, especially as Congress considers bills.
Oracle, which has one of the most powerful internal lobbying arms in Washington, has disclosed that it has spent more than $2.4 million since Jan. 1 to influence policy. That includes internal lobbying for TikTok and a dozen other issues.
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