Facebook wined and dined U.S. lawmakers and racked up a tab close to $4 million during 2012, an increase of 196 percent over its courting costs in the previous year.

According to disclosure forms, Facebook spent $1.4 million in the fourth quarter to lobby government officials on foreign relations matters, online privacy issues, data security, immigration reform, and online advertising.

More:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57565507-93/facebook-spent-$4-million-to-lobby-u.s-lawmakers-in-2012/?part=rss&subj=news&tag=title

Gideon Rop.