I hate the word "thought leaders" but I have to assume that Amazon very quietly tries to influence thought leaders. If they succeeded - the return on investment would be very high.

For example - imagine Ezra Klein is about to start doing expensive renovations on his house. Amazon gets in touch with him "Hey, Ezra - we heard you're doing a reno on your place. Speaking purely theoretically - it would be great if you could write a column on the unfounded panic about data centers. If we knew for certain such a column was going to be published in a timely manner - we could recommend a contractor that would save you a lot. Say 50%."