An investigation finds Apple, Meta, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft have launched a coordinated campaign in 31 states against data privacy legislation since 2021
Coordinated industry lobbying is overwhelming the scattered efforts of consumer groups and privacy-minded lawmakers
The Markup
Context & Ripple Effects
This investigation closes the loop on a story The Markup has been tracking since early 2021, when it documented Facebook, Apple, Google and others working statehouses like Connecticut and Texas as consumer privacy bills moved (state-by-state lobbying efforts). The Wall Street Journal had already flagged the same firms hiring lobbyists in Arizona, Maryland, Virginia and Texas to counter privacy, app-store-fee, and ad legislation (lobbyists hired across four states) — today's finding is that those efforts were coordinated across 31 states, not scattered defensive plays.
First-order effects
Privacy-minded lawmakers and consumer groups in 31 states are being outspent and outorganized bill by bill, which is why the investigation describes their efforts as 'scattered' against a unified industry campaign.
The five named companies — Apple, Meta, Amazon, Google, Microsoft — get to keep shaping (or stalling) state privacy rules rather than complying with a patchwork of stricter laws.
Second-order effects
Trade groups do the deniable heavy lifting: CCIA, backed by Meta and Google, is already running the same playbook on antitrust, spending $36.4M+ on ads opposing self-preferencing bans ($36.4M+ in anti-antitrust ads) and ramping opposition again when antitrust bills neared the omnibus package (omnibus opposition ramp-up).
Federal lobbying budgets keep climbing to sustain both fronts — Amazon hit a record $20.3M and Meta a record $20.1M in 2021, continuing a cycle where Public Citizen counted $124M from these firms in the 2020 cycle alone ($124M in 2020-cycle lobbying and donations).
Third-order effects
If coordinated statehouse blocking holds, the US ends up with no comprehensive federal privacy law and only a thin patchwork of industry-friendly state statutes — regulation by lobbying capacity rather than by legislature.
It entrenches a structural asymmetry: five companies coordinating through shared lobbyists can systematically defeat diffuse coalitions of consumer groups and state lawmakers, making legislative outcomes a function of spending power.
The trend: Big Tech is shifting from reactive, state-by-state lobbying defense to coordinated multi-state campaigns run through trade groups, with federal lobbying budgets scaling to match.
NEW: A tight-knit web of players are ensuring privacy advocates don't pass strong consumer protection laws. How? By passing tech-friendly laws first. https://themarkup.org/...
@joejerome And the Utah law in particular is the biggest joke in privacy since whichever of Mark Zuckerberg's faux intellectual “we've listened and hear that privacy is important so we're increasing security” insincere apologies is most recent.
This dynamic was clearly at work at a hearing on a Pennsylvania privacy proposal yesterday. At every bill hearing, in every state, they say the same. Virginia is good. California is bad, citing random stats of unclear origin. https://twitter.com/...
Was on a panel yesterday where I argued (again) that we have the #CCPA (warts and all) & the #CPRA due to California's insane ballot initiative process that end runs around the legislature. Disappointed to see industry's influence on the normal legislative process. https://twitte…
Really great reporting here by @alfredwkng + @ToddFeathers looking at the state-by-state effort by Big Tech to not only water down, but to ACTUALLY WRITE the privacy laws in their favor. https://twitter.com/...
@joejerome I think you can say that on the whole, this new generation of state privacy bills are largely insufficient, performative, and serve to rubber stamp dangerous corporate data practices rather than meaningfully addressing them.
There is no privacy lobby. There is only a corporate data exploitation lobby easily outmatching a few fractured uncoordinated independent self-funded voices who advocate for humans on a shoestring. I worry for the future of privacy in america.
New: @ToddFeathers and I combed through lobbying records, testimonies and industry group donors to figure out Big Tech's playbook for getting watered down privacy laws passed. The short answer is: https://themarkup.org/...
Was wondering how Utah's pathetically weak and shitty privacy law came about and the answer is what you'd guess: the industry lobby is drowning out all other voices and it's working out great for ever-expanding corporate power at the expense of people. #DataRights https://twitter…
Pro tip: ANA == DAA == IAB == DAA == NAI. They all share same end goal and lobbying efforts/firms. Also, this won't work. California is effectively the law of land and users have a right to optout with global privacy control which will soon see enforcement under their law. 2/2 ht…
Super good details on adtech lobbies coordinating. Comical for Google and Facebook to be “distancing” their work from that of CCIA, IAB, Halpert, Future of Privacy Forum, DLA Piper and other groups in here. They're all the same $ and goals to weaken privacy rights. 1/2 https://tw…
["Marsden, the sponsor of Virginia's law, told The Markup. 'I think the public is largely indifferent to data privacy things. It's just an annoyance that a lot of people are willing to put up with.'"] Not really sure what you can say when lawmakers who author privacy bills have t…
This is great reporting from @ToddFeathers and @alfredwkng on how the tech industry and their associated orgs water down privacy legislation. Regulation doesn't work because the deck is stacked. https://themarkup.org/...
.@futureofprivacy supporters page shows that >75% of group's funders are tech companies. During 2020, 66% of group's revenue came from just 2 donors, according to the nonprofit's audited financial statement, but group didn't respond to requests for comments on who they were.
Droves of tech company lobbyists led to industry-friendly state privacy bills that prohibit consumers fr/bringing lawsuits when law is violated, narrowly define selling data & require consumers to opt out of data collection incl @futureofprivacy Forum https://themarkup.org/...
@themarkup “reviewed public hearing testimony, public comments, and lobbying records in all 31 states that have considered consumer data privacy legislation since 2021 and found a coordinated, nationwide campaign by Big Tech to mold the rules to its will” https://themarkup.org/..…