A look at how tech's lobbying efforts in the US are quietly pushing for long-held goals in the frantic political and economic environment amid COVID-19 outbreak
David McCabe / New York Times : Tweets: @ddayen , @mawnikr , @nytimesbusiness , @nytimesbusiness , @veenadubal , and @opensecretsdc Tweets: David Dayen / @ddayen : This idea that tech is “snapping to action” and the techlash is over, lolol https://twitter.com/... Alex Rosenblat / @mawnikr : Old strategy, new cause :) “Uber has asked lawmakers to shield it from lawsuits over how its drivers are classified if it provides the drivers with medical supplies or compensation during the pandemic...” https://www.nytimes.com/... h/t @HalSinger @sanjuktampaul @LarryMishel @nytimesbusiness : “It's certainly opportunistic,” a researcher said. “Everybody's searching for every way that they can get some kind of assistance, whether it's cash or delaying a regulation that will cost them money to implement.” https://www.nytimes.com/... @nytimesbusiness : Tech companies are still pushing their agendas in Washington despite not suffering the same financial devastation as other industries https://www.nytimes.com/... Veena Dubal / @veenadubal : 😱"Privately, Uber has gone further...[&] asked lawmakers to shield it from lawsuits over how its drivers are classified if it provides the drivers w/medical supplies or compensation during the pandemic, according to..email obtained by @nytimes https://www.nytimes.com/... @opensecretsdc : Amid the heavy lobbying surrounding coronavirus relief bills, #BigTech has taken an opportunistic approach: quietly push for long-held goals like deregulation or other government action that would benefit their companies. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
The New York Times' report lands mid-crisis, but the playbook it documents is old: back in 2015, startups like Hello Alfred, Magic Leap, and Zenefits were already ramping up Washington lobbying to bank goodwill before regulators arrived (startups increasing lobbying in Washington). What changed in April 2020 is the urgency — with Congress moving emergency legislation at speed, long-parked asks like deregulation and liability limits got attached to pandemic relief vehicles.
Uber's specific request — legal cover on driver classification in exchange for providing drivers medical supplies or compensation — sits at the center of the story, and gig-work scholars Veena Dubal and Alex Rosenblat flagged it immediately as an old strategy wearing a new cause. The same month, the Washington Post framed the broader dynamic: a decimated economy giving tech giants room to expand power and political fortune (tech giants expanding power amid COVID-19).
First-order effects
- Lawmakers drafting pandemic response face bundled asks: Uber wants immunity from driver-classification lawsuits tied to any benefits it provides, meaning relief provisions could quietly rewrite gig-labor liability.
- Big Tech's government-relations teams shift into crisis mode, pressing long-held deregulation goals while legislative attention is consumed by COVID-19 rather than platform regulation.
Second-order effects
- Labor-side critics like Dubal and Rosenblat gain a concrete fight to organize around, forcing the classification question into public view precisely when platforms hoped to settle it quietly.
- The crisis lobbying arms race compounds: within two years, Amazon and Meta hit record federal lobbying outlays of $20.3M and $20.1M respectively (record 2021 federal lobbying spend), while opponents like Marriott, Disney, and IBM keep pressure on the other flank seeking to limit Section 230.
Third-order effects
- If emergency-window lobbying keeps converting relief bills into liability carve-outs, gig-worker classification gets settled piecemeal by statute rather than by courts or legislatures deliberating in the open — a structural shift in how platform labor law is made.
- The pattern feeds its own countermovement: the same accumulation of quiet wins gave momentum to the White House's later push for antitrust legislation like AICOA and the Open App Markets Act (White House lame-duck antitrust push).
The trend: Crises are becoming accelerants for tech's Washington strategy — each emergency window lets platforms attach dormant deregulatory asks to must-pass legislation, even as the accumulated wins fuel a growing antitrust and labor backlash.