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Google said Friday it will hire a dozen new lobbying firms in a sign the search giant is taking the Federal Trade Commission’s upcoming antitrust investigation seriously.

FTC google lobbying antitrust

Google Inc. spent $880,000 on lobbying in Washington, D.C. in the first quarter of this year, putting the increasingly politically savvy Internet giant on pace to outdistance the $2.84 million it spent last year.

The amount also puts Google on a pace to more than quadruple the annual amount it spent in Washington three years ago.

The increased spending pace, recorded by the Center for Responsive Politics, came as Google raised its profile in the nation's capital. Google CEO Eric Schmidt, for example, was named earlier this week to President Obama's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

But Google is also finding it necessary to increase its presence in Washington to counter the influence of critics and rivals such as Microsoft Corp., who hope its growing dominance of the Internet advertising market will be curbed.

Legislation and government regulation emanating from Washington could, for example, limit the pool of Internet content Google is able to present alongside online advertising, or hinder its ability to gather user data to tailor such advertising.

While lobbying by any company can vary from quarter to quarter, only a dramatic slowdown for the remainder of this year could leave Google short of its spending in 2008.

Google Lobbying DC