California is legendary for having so many voter initiatives on the ballot that the voter guide which explains them looks like some sort of novel.
And in the fight over these initiatives:
- Money flows like water
- Television commercials never stop running
- The "other side" is always accused of being dishonest
So how will the tech giants behave?
New consumer privacy initiative
In this case, we're talking about the California Consumer Privacy Act, which will give Californians the right to greater privacy controls. They can learn which types of data a company has collected on them and can opt out of allowing that company to sell the data.
The initiative is still being certified, but tech giants are not taking any chances and have already put up seven figures as seed money for the campaign against more privacy.
Specific tech companies donating to stop the California Consumer Privacy Act
- Facebook: $200,000
- Google: $200,000
- Verizon: $200,000
- Comcast: $200,000
- AT&T: $200,000
- Microsoft: $195,000
- Amazon: $195,000
- Uber: $50,000
See the complete list of heavy hitters giving to the "Committee to Protect California Jobs."
According to The Verge, which spotted tech's resistance to the new privacy initiative, Facebook has now decided not to support this political action committee.
You think?
And The Verge spoke with a representative of Amazon, who put it like this: “While we share the initiative’s overarching goal of protecting consumer privacy, we are concerned by unworkable requirements that would hinder our ability to innovate on behalf of our customers."
Both sides will know on June 25th if there are enough authentic signatures to put this on the November ballot.
If so, Californians can expect non-stop commercials, along with targeted digital ads based on voter data that was sold... about them.
