Go Daddy is no longer on the U.S. Congressional list of Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) supporters
Here is the link to SOPA supporters: http://judiciary.house.gov/issues/ Rogue%20Websites/List%20of%20SOPA%20Sup porters.pdf List of Supporters: H.R. 3261, the Stop Online Piracy Act 60 Plus …
Context & Ripple Effects
Go Daddy spent the week before Christmas absorbing the cost of its SOPA support: measurable domain-transfer losses, retention calls begging customers to stay, and a public spat with rival Namecheap over rate limiting that ended in a hastily reversed block. Competitors like Namecheap turned the backlash into a marketing weapon with MoveYourDomainDay, while Paul Graham barred SOPA-supporting companies from YC Demo Day and Scribd staged its own protest.
Against that backdrop, removal from the House Judiciary Committee's official list of H.R. 3261 supporters is Go Daddy's first concrete concession — a signal that the boycott was priced into the company's calculus and that 'doesn't support' language was no longer holding off customer flight.
First-order effects
- Go Daddy exits the public roster of SOPA backers on judiciary.house.gov, stripping opponents of their most-cited corporate name and giving wavering customers a stated reason to pause transfers.
- Namecheap and other registrars running anti-SOPA campaigns lose their sharpest talking point — though the transferred domains are unlikely to move back.
Second-order effects
- Other companies still on the supporters list face the same choice Go Daddy just made: stay listed and absorb boycott risk, or quietly ask to be removed and confirm that the list itself functions as a pressure mechanism.
- Domain registrars now compete on political posture as well as price, turning an SOPA stance into a customer-acquisition channel for challengers like Namecheap.
Third-order effects
- If delisting becomes the standard escape hatch, congressional supporter lists turn into live lobbying scorecards that organized web communities can reprice daily — raising the cost of visible support for contested legislation across the industry.
The trend: The SOPA fight is establishing a template where coordinated customer boycotts force internet-infrastructure companies to publicly reverse their legislative positions within days.