Jamie Bartlett

How tech lobbyists harness the power of grassroots activism

A strange thing happened after TFL’s decision last month not to renew Uber’s license to operate in London. The ride sharing app started a petition on the website change.org.

To defend the livelihoods of 40,000 drivers – and the consumer choice of millions of Londoners – sign this petition asking to reverse the decision to ban Uber in London.

Thousands of stranded bus-shy Londoners rushed to sign, making it the fastest growing petition in the UK this year. (At the time of writing it’s reached 855 thousand signatures). And of course it was accompanied by the mandatory hashtag #saveyouruber, which was shared by the official Uber UK Twitter account.

Big business has always used its clout and money to lobby. Millions are spent in London, Brussels and Washington on shaping laws. Until recent years most big tech firms steered clear of all this, mistakenly thinking they might avoid dirtying their hands with politics. But they’re rising up the spending charts. Amazon, Apple and Google spent record sums lobbying in Washington in the past three months: splashing out $10 million between them on issues like tax, privacy, self-driving car regulations, and immigration reform. Under Obama there was something of a revolving door between big tech firms and his administration.

But what’s happening with Uber is different. They are very deliberately trying to create the impression of an organic grassroots movement of ordinary Londoners, and using their platform and unique access to users to mobilise them. Uber’s Terms and Condition were recently updated to mean the app can be used ‘to inform you about elections, ballots, referenda and other political processes that relate to our services’. Uber sent emails and notifications to regular users, encouraging them to get involved with the campaign – telling recipients that they should become part of this noble cause of the little people: By wanting to ban our app from the capital, Transport for London and their chairman the Mayor have given in to a small number of people who want to restrict consumer choice’.

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