In the battle over ‘net neutrality,’ tech giants such as Google, Facebook and Amazon are spending a third of what telecommunications companies are spending on federal lobbying.

The 3 to 1 disparity was found in the 2014 election cycle by nonpartisan Sunlight Foundation, which performed an analysis for The San Francisco Chronicle. Large telecom firms, including Verizon, Comcast and Time Warner Cable contributed more than $2.1 million to House and Senate committees that are taking up net neutrality issues. It was a similar case in the 2012 election cycle.

Net neutrality, a term coined by Columbia University professor Tim Wu, refers to equal access to the Internet by all citizens. If the telecoms have their way, the Federal Communication Commission would pass rules that allow them to charge companies for faster access – “essentially a toll for access to the fast lane on the information superhighway,” writes SF Chronicle’s Joe Garofoli.

According to the SF Chronicle, Washington culture is the reason for heavier spending by telecommunications firms, which, along with cable companies, have traditionally had stronger lobbying efforts on Capitol Hill and at the FCC. They are politically well-connected, as the National Cable and Telecommunications Association is headed up by Michael Powell, a former FCC chairman, while current FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler previously served as the trade group’s president.

Some 150 Internet companies, including Google, Facebook, LinkedIn and Amazon, sent the FCC a letter declaring proposed net neutrality rules “a grave threat to the Internet.” Smaller firms started that effort, however, with larger companies signing on late.

Some are leveling criticism at the large firms because they will be able to manage even if FCC passes the rules that would harm net neutrality.

“All I’ve seen in terms of real lobbying work, except for signing one lobbying letter, has been little tech – the little guys, which makes sense because they live and die by net neutrality,” Tim Wu told the SF Chronicle.