Trade/Proxy Organizations funded by Big Tech

TechNet

• TechNet Functioned As A "Political Shield" For Members, Including Google And Apple, To Push Their Agenda
  • TechNet is a trade association for technology CEOs and executives, including Google and Apple.
  • TechNet held annual lobbying conferences so members, including Google and Apple, could push their agenda on politicians.
  • Wired on TechNet: "Tech's most powerful advocacy group."
  • Wired: TechNet "has grown to become the valley's strongest fundraising network and lobbying voice in Washington, backed by Microsoft, Google, Apple, and others."
  • Tech Crunch: TechNet functioned as a "political shield" for its big tech members, including Apple

ACT - the App Association

• Apple Funded ACT Pushed Apple's Agenda, Causing An Alternative App Developer Association To Be Created Specifically To Avoid The Conflict Of Interest
  • Apple funded the ACT- The App Association.
  • ACT attacked the Supreme Court's decision on Apple versus Pepper, taking Apple's side in the case.
    • ACT took Apple's side in the Supreme Court decision Apple versus Pepper, arguing the decision "robbed developers of their autonomy and independence by categorizing them as mere suppliers or manufacturers to platforms."
    • In reality, the decision allowed consumers to sue Apple for monopolistic behavior in the Apple app store.

• ACT's funding from Apple caused an alternative trade organization to be created independent from the big tech funders and the conflict of interest.
  • ACT member Southern DNA provided no portfolio of work on its website and primarily used its social media to promote ACT's lobbying efforts.

Electronic Transactions Association (ETA)

• Apple, Amazon, And Google Were Members Of Electronic Transactions Association (ETA), A Trade Association That Spent Millions In Federal Lobbying.
  • In 7 years, the Association reported $6,720,000 in lobbying costs -- $1,120,000 of that came in just 2020.
  • ETA reported lobbying on H.R. 4813 (Keep Big Tech Out Of Finance Act), which sought to bar Google, Facebook, Apple, and Amazon from providing banking services.
  • ETAPAC contributed $96,300 to Federal House and Senate candidates in the 2019/20 cycle.

NetChoice

• NetChoice Attacked Lawsuits That Directly And Indirectly Threatened Organization Member Google
  • NetChoice aggressively defended Apple's app store business model, a business model that mirrored organization member Google's app store.
    • Google is a member of NetChoice.
    • NetChoice aggressively defended Apple's app store business model. NetChoice Vice President described the apple app store as "an innovative ecosystem that helped create the hypercompetitive app economy." NetChoice Vice President: "Apple's defense illustrates a commitment to an ecosystem that fosters competition, user ease, and up-and-coming developers." A study found Apple's app store was functionally the same as Google's app store business model.
    • NetChoice aggressively and repeatedly opposed lawsuits against Google.

Consumer Technology Association (CTA)

• Consumer Technology Association (CTA) Counted All Four – Amazon, Facebook, Apple, And Alphabet (Google) As Members.
  • CTA spent $10,370,000 on federal lobbying in 2019 – 2020 alone.
  • CTA fought Right to Repair laws that were under consideration in 25 state legislatures. Right to Repair proposals required tech manufacturers to provide independent repair shops access to parts and schematics to fix devices like computers and phones.
    • CTA argued such policies threatened brands' reputation; poorly done repairs by unauthorized dealers or substandard parts would damage the public's perception of product quality.

Developers Alliance

• Facebook And Google Were Members Of The Developers Alliance, Which Claimed To Represent Some 70,000 App Developers.
  • Developers Alliance spent $1,018,100 on federal lobbying between 2013 – 2020. $125,000 of that spending came in 2019 – 2020.

• Developers Alliance argued that traditional market risks were irrelevant in digital platform competition and that consumers benefit from a "functioning market" in which Apps were channeled into limited, controlled platforms.
• Developers Alliance argued that most developers were satisfied with the existing platform options.
• Developers Alliance opposed 2021 legislation in Arizona (House Bill 2005) and Rhode Island (House Bill 6055).
  • Arizona's House Bill 2005 offered app developers the option to use alternative payment methods to circumvent the 15 – 30% cut Apple and Google 15 – 30% take from App Sales on their platforms.
  • Rhode Island's 6055 bill banned app distribution platforms from requiring developers to use their platform exclusively to list their apps and allowed app developers the option to use alternative payment methods.

Internet Association

• Google, Facebook, And Amazon Were Members Of Internet Association.
  • Amazon disclosed it contributed $30,000 To Internet Association's California PAC in 2020.
  • Internet Association reported spending more than $13.9 million in federal lobbying over a 7-year period between 2013 – 2020.
  • Internet Association alleged attempts to regulate the sharing economy – like Amazon Flex – were a tactic by "legacy corporations" to "stifle" the competition.

Portable Rechargeable Battery Association (PRBA)

• Portable Rechargeable Battery Association Counted Apple And Amazon As Members.
  • PRBA has not registered federal lobbying activity since 2013.
  • PRBA hosted annual member regulatory meetings, including one in November 2020 that included Department of Transportation and Environmental Protection Agency officials as featured speakers, effectively giving its members direct access.
  • PRBA submitted public comments to federal regulatory bodies.
  • PRBA's Executive Director George Kerchner directly influenced both federal and state public policy; in 2019, he was appointed to the US Department of Transportation Lithium Battery Safety Committee and the California Environmental Protection Agency's Lithium-Ion Car Battery Recycling Advisory Group.

New York Coalition for Independent Work

• In December 2020, TechNet And Internet Association (whose membership included Amazon) announced they were working with the New York Coalition for Independent Work.
  • The Coalition claimed to work on behalf of app-based contractors to defend their right to flexibility while also working to provide them with benefits. The Coalition ran Letters to the Editors and Op-eds in local newspapers supposedly written by ride-sharing workers defending the flexibility of gig-based jobs and downplaying the poor pay.
  • The Coalition pushed New York to adopt a California Proposition 22 style policy that defined sharing economy workers like Uber and Lyft drivers as contractors instead of employees. Proposition 22 was a massive win for sharing economy companies.  As contractors, sharing economy workers did not have rights to minimum wage or other key legal protections that come with being classified as an employee. Proposition 22 provided contractors with the right to access healthcare through independent entities that their employers only partially funded. Proposition 22 benefited Amazon Flex.

American Edge

• In 2020 Facebook Launched American Edge, A Dark-Money Astroturf Group Designed To Combat Potential Federal Regulations.
• American Edge obscured its donors by forming as a nonprofit, then launching an affiliated social welfare group that could legally push political messages through advertising and other means.

• American Edge was formed to oppose antitrust legislation and promote big tech interests amid growing scrutiny of U.S. tech companies and political pressure to implement regulations.
• Despite presenting itself as a grassroots nonprofit, American Edge was created and funded by Facebook. The tech giant was reportedly “critical” and worked “behind the scenes” to launch American Edge. Facebook even admitted its involvement with the organization. Company spokesman Andy Stone said Facebook was “leading an effort to start this coalition.” Facebook also reported donating to American Edge on its website. Notably, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg setup similar 501(c)4 organizations in the past to promote the company’s interests.
• American Edge thwarted transparency and declined to name the company’s backers other than Facebook. In May 2020, John Ashbrook, a consultant advising American Edge, declined to name any of the organization’s corporate backers when asked. The group went on to release an August 2020 ad featuring prominent tech companies like Facebook, Amazon, Google, and Zoom.
• American Edge Coordinated With Facebook Using Various Strategies Designed To Oppose Antitrust Legislation And Protect Big Tech Interests. American Edge employed a variety of strategies aimed at opposing antitrust legislation and protecting big tech, many of which were coordinated with Facebook.
  • Advertising was the most prominent strategy American Edge and Facebook used to promote their message. According to digital ad data from OpenSecrets, American Edge spent $265,000 on Facebook ads about technology policy from September 2020 to June 2021. Wired noted that American Edge and Facebook specifically “pump[ed] ads into the feeds of the DC policy audience” in an effort to influence legislation. According to the Tech Transparency Project, American Edge and Facebook launched an “ad blitz” ahead of Facebook CEO’s Mark Zuckerberg’s testimony before Congress.
  • American Edge and Facebook also coordinated to sponsor newsletters in a variety of publications, including Politico, the Hill, Axios, and Punchbowl News. Newsletters typically allowed sponsors to insert a message of their choice in the digest. During a five-week period in 2021, Facebook and American Edge sponsored a combined 91 newsletters across publications. Notably, the uptick in sponsorships came ahead of Zuckerberg’s testimony before Congress.
• In addition to their coordination on advertising and newsletters, Facebook and American Edge used similar lines of argument to oppose antitrust regulations. Companies like Facebook and organizations like American Edge argued that antitrust reform could hinder U.S. competition with China. American Edge promoted this idea in an October m2021 report, as well as op-eds it dispatched across various publications around the country. Critics called the tactic a “thinly veiled effort to dodge regulation and ward off would-be backers.”
• American Edge Assembled A Leadership Team With Immense Political Influence And Close Ties To Big Tech. American Edge assembled a team of advisors with political influence and close ties to big tech. According to the Washington Post, American Edge “[came] together with the aid of top Democratic and Republican operatives.” Its paid advisors were comprised of former members of Congress and political officials, tasked with influencing their friends and former colleagues to uphold big tech interests. Moreover, many advisors held personal financial interests in big tech’s success.
  • Frances Townsend, a former White House Counterterrorism and Homeland Security adviser, served on American Edge’s National Security Advisory Board. Townsend had connections to numerous other organizations that relied on big tech for funding. Townsend was on the board of directors of the Atlantic Council, which was funded by Facebook and Google. Notably, in October 2021, American Edge partnered with the Atlantic Council on a report critical of China’s influence over technology standards-setting. Townsend was also a member of the board of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, which was funded by Apple and Google, as well as the board of the Council on Foreign Relations, which was funded by Microsoft, Facebook, and Google.
  • Another American Edge advisory board member with ties to big tech was Democratic former Sen. Heidi Heitkamp. As a Senator, Heitkamp accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars from tech companies. Per OpenSecrets, Heitkamp’s fourth largest donor sector throughout her career was “communications/electronics,” and her third biggest donor was Google’s parent company, Alphabet. From 2013 to 2018, Heitkamp’s top overall donor was Google, which gave the Senator more than $131,000. Over that same period, Facebook gave Heitkamp $10,000 in donations. Although she is no longer a Senator, Heitkamp may still have a financial stake in big tech’s success. As of her most recent personal financial disclosure from 2019, Heitkamp reported holding stock in Apple and Google. Additionally, in 2019, Heitkamp launched an advocacy organization called the One Country Project in coordination with the lobbying firm Forbes Tate. The two groups reportedly had the same address, and One Country’s executive director was a partner at Forbes Tate. According to the Forbes Tate website, tech lobbying was one of the firm’s areas of specialty. From 2012 to 2014, Forbes Tate earned $200,000 lobbying on behalf of Amazon. In 2020, a coalition of progressive organizations wrote the Biden Administration a letter opposing Heitkamp’s consideration for USDA secretary. The letter noted Heitkamp’s ties to big tech through One Country and Forbes Tate.
  • Republican former U.S. Representative and American Edge Advisory Board Member Greg Walden also had ties to big tech. According to OpenSecrets, “communications/electronics” was Walden’s second biggest donor sector throughout his career. From 2012 to 2019, Walden accepted $31,000 in donations from Facebook. As a Congressman, Walden was a friend to Facebook. He chaired the Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Communications and Technology and called for “light-touch regulation, not heavy-handed government” when it came to regulating the tech industry. Additionally, Walden represented a district in Oregon where Facebook did “a lot of business” and received big tax breaks for data centers. Slate pointed out the tax breaks as a potential conflict of interest when Walden led Mark Zuckerberg’s hearing before the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
  • Like Walden, American Edge board member and Republican former Governor of New Mexico Susana Martinez offered Facebook big economic incentives to build data centers in her state. As governor, Martinez announced that Facebook would expand its data center in Los Lunas, New Mexico. Facebook entertained bids to build data centers in both New Mexico and Utah, but the company ultimately selected New Mexico after being offered tax breaks on billions of dollars in computer equipment and annual payments topping out at $500,000 instead of property taxes.
  • Other American Edge Advisory Board members with tech ties included Democratic former Rep. Chris Carney and Republican former Sen. Saxby Chambliss. Since leaving office, Carney has worked at the lobbying firm Nossaman LLP. In October 2019, Carney registered to lobby on behalf of NMR Consulting, an information technology company that partnered with Microsoft. Chambliss also had big tech ties. According to a 2014 Los Angeles Times report, “Tech execs who look more like old-school Fortune 500 barons are coming out of the closet, opening the checkbooks for old-fashioned GOP politicians such as ... Sen. Saxby Chambliss.” Additionally, while we don’t have information about Chambliss’s finances since he left office, he held stock in Apple per his most recent financial disclosure report filed in 2015.
  • Finally, Bradley Smith, an American Edge director and former Commissioner on the Federal Election Commission, did not have apparent ties to big tech, but had previous experience that would be favorable to 501(c)4 organizations trying to conceal their donors. After resigning from the FEC in 2005, Smith founded the Center for Competitive Politics, a nonprofit that opposed strengthening campaign finance laws. As of December 2021, Smith still chaired the organization (though it was renamed the Institute for Free Speech in 2017). In 2014, Smith’s organization opposed a proposed IRS Rule that would limit spending by 501(c)4 organizations in response to “dark money” concerns. Perhaps its unsurprising that Smith, who adamantly opposed regulating groups like American Edge, was chosen to help run the organization.
  • American Edge Was Criticized From Both The Left And Right. American Edge had critics across the political spectrum. According to Politico, the organization was “shrouded in controversy” after Facebook disclosed its involvement. In June 2020, ten progressive organizations, including Public Citizen and the Tech Transparency Project, sent Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg a letter asking him to shut down American Edge. The letter expressed concerns with the organization’s 501(c)4 status and the revolving door between government and the tech industry. On the other side of the political aisle, Republican Sen. Josh Hawley called out the organization for its dark money spending and opposition to antitrust legislation, which was backed by a bipartisan coalition of legislators.

Download Fairness Coalition

• In 2019, Apple Disclosed It Was A Member Of The Download Fairness Coalition, Which Apple Defined As A "Trade Association," But The Organization Was Previously Housed In The Lobbying Firm Signal Consulting's Office.
• The Download Fairness Coalition's Website is defunct as of April 2021; however archived website records listed Apple, Amazon, and prominent trade association TechNet were members in 2019.
  • Amazon did disclose supporting the Download Fairness Coalition on its 2019 US Political Contribution and Engagement Statement.

• The group sought a national framework that would effectively override a patchwork of state laws on digital taxation.
• The Coalition disclosed it spent $3,240,000 in federal lobbying between 2011 – 2020.
• Lobbying disclosure records show that the Coalition paid Elevate Government Affairs to lobby on digital taxation issues in 2020.
• The group also paid Signal Consulting $80,000 to lobby on The Digital Goods And Services Tax Fairness Act (HR 1725, S. 765) in 2019. Website archive records and federal lobbying disclosures show that both Signal Consulting and the Coalition resided at 455 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Floor 12, Washington, DC address in 2019.
  • It is unclear if Download Fairness still exists through online research or where it currently resides. Interested parties should request the organization's 2019 – 2020 990 tax forms from the IRS to determine its current state.

Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA)

• The Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) is comprised of, and funded by, Big Tech companies including Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google.
• CCIA works to defend Big Tech companies from criticism:
  • CCIA created separate organizations to advocate for Big Tech through researchpapers and communications support. These include Springboard and the Disruptive Competition Project. As the House sought to pass antitrust legislation against Big Tech, these organizations argued that there is lots of competition in the tech sector and that the bills would make digital advertising less safe, force platforms to host Neo-Nazi speech, and help China.
  • CCIA criticized lawsuits by the DOJ and state attorneys general against Google, casting them as either partisan actions by Republicans or arguing that there was insufficient evidence.
  • CCIA has repeatedly criticized European regulators for attempting to hold Google accountable and for implementing privacy regulations. CCIA argued that the European Commission sought investigations against Google because of political motives.
  • CCIA reflexively defends Big Tech. CCIA said that breaking up Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp would harm consumers, and has funded pro-Google conferences. Their Twitter feed is filled with opinion pieces arguing against antitrust action against Big Tech.
  • CCIA argued that the House antitrust proposals were radical and would harm small businesses and national security. CCIA hired former DNI Dan Coats to argue in multiple publications that antitrust action against Big Tech would benefit China and harm national security.
• CCIA filed numerous Supreme Court amicus briefs in support of Apple, including in the Apple v. Pepper case.
• CCIA’s Policy Counsel is Amazon’s former Policy Counsel.
• From 1998 to 2021, CCIA spent $8,768,705 in federal lobbying expenditures.

Chamber Of Progress

• Chamber of Progress was formed in 2021 by Google’s former top lobbyist, with backing from Apple, Google, Amazon and Facebook. The group was formed to back key pieces of the progressive agenda, as a way to get back in lawmakers’ good graces and help fend off tech regulation.
• Chamber of Progress was called out by both sides of the aisle for being a “transparent ploy” to bamboozle lawmakers and camouflage Big Tech’s true intentions.
• Chamber of Progress defended the App Store system and said any proposed changes would worsen the customer experience.
• Chamber of Progress opposed antitrust reform bills in Congress, with the organization drafting a letter signed by 13 different organizations opposing the bills. Chamber of Progress’ talking points against the bills, were called out as scare tactics, and given false ratings from an independent fact checker.

Connected Commerce Council

• Connected Commerce Council (3C) is a small business front group for Big Tech. The group counts Amazon, Facebook and Google as partners.
• The group was formed by Jake Ward, who had previously founded the Application Developers Alliance, another group which counts Google and Facebook as members.
• 3C’s tax filings show its address is listed as the office of the Washington DC lobbying firm it pays to lobby the federal government on its behalf.
• Connected Commerce Council has employed Majority Group’s Robert Ellsworth as its sole federal lobbyist, paying him $1.2 million since 2018.
• Connected Commerce Council pushes small business owners to write letters to policymakers discouraging Big Tech regulation and often provides these small business owners with template language. In one case, 3C was caught by the Washington Post having failed to inform a small business letter writer of the organization’s ties to Big Tech companies like Google.
• In 2019, 3C recruited small business owners to express concern about the House Judiciary Committee’s antitrust investigation into Big Tech.
• In 2020, Google partnered with 3C to push out white papers making the case that Big Tech was key to keeping small businesses open during the pandemic.
• 3C also led opposition to the antitrust bills in Congress in 2021 and 2022, flooding social media and newsletters with ads defending Big Tech. The organization’s PR firm also sent talking points to local chambers of commerce for opposing the bills. And 3C arranged meetings between small business owners and members of Congress.

Financial Innovation Now (FIN)

• Financial Innovation Now is a coalition of tech companies operating in the financial services sector. Its members include Amazon, Google and Facebook.
• The group was formed by Brian Peters, a lobbyist for the Franklin Square Group who is registered to lobby the federal government for Amazon, Google and Facebook.
• Financial Innovation Now was formed in 2015 to push back against calls by the big banks for regulation of tech firms getting into the financial services industry, including payments.
• Financial Innovation Now defended Big Tech companies after the CFPB’s order on Big Tech and payments products in Oct. 2021, said Amazon, Google and Facebook deeply value consumer protection and already have practices which exceed US law.
• Financial Innovation Now spent $1.4 million lobbying the federal government since 2019, including $480K in 2021.