Marketplace®

Daily business news and economic stories

Lobbying group signs up heavy hitters of the web

This is a Marketplace.org Reader

Remember the Superfriends? Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and a few others gathered together at the Hall of Justice to fight crime after some extensive meetings. It’s like heroism mixed with bureaucracy.
Anyway, that scenario is kind of being recreated now as a bunch of tech companies have come together to form a lobbying group. Facebook, Google, eBay, and Amazon are all new members of what has been titled The Internet Association. I kind of think eBay is the Aquaman in this particular metaphor — still in the group but perhaps not quite as powerful. Google and Facebook already spend millions of dollars annually on lobbying efforts and that shows no sign of slowing down as privacy issues and regulatory issues look to be part of our web life indefinitely.
The new group’s president says it will exist to “educate” lawmakers about the internet. Like how Superman educated Lex Luthor.

Latest Episodes

View All Shows
  • Marketplace Morning Report
    6 hours ago
    7:08
  • Marketplace Tech
    12 hours ago
    11:03
  • Marketplace
    a day ago
    25:19
  • Make Me Smart
    a day ago
    19:00
  • This Is Uncomfortable
    3 days ago
    56:05
  • Million Bazillion
    24 days ago
    32:45