The Internet Association, once branded as Silicon Valley’s most important trade group in Washington, plans to announce it is dissolving as soon as tomorrow, two people familiar with the situation told POLITICO.
The group was struggling from financial woes after Microsoft pulled its support for the association earlier this year, one of the people said. It has fought to maintain relevance on Capitol Hill even while staying out of the debate on antitrust, given competing pressures from its small member companies and heavyweights like Google and Amazon. The Internet Association also faced internal growing pains under new leadership.
A spokesperson for the Internet Association did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
IA, a nine-year-old group that once called itself “the unified voice of the internet economy,” was previously a powerhouse in Washington, even as member companies like Google, Facebook and Amazon fell out of favor on both sides of the aisle. The trade group in 2019 held an awards ceremony in Union Station featuring appearances by both House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and then-Trump adviser Ivanka Trump.
In one controversial moment, IA brokered the deal with lawmakers that led to the online sex trafficking law known as FOSTA-SESTA, H.R. 1865 (115), one of the only times Congress has seriously regulated the internet industry since the 1990s.
But in recent months, IA has been shedding staff and facing tension among its high-powered board members. Two of the group’s highest-paying members, Google and Amazon, were seriously cutting back on how much they gave IA, frustrated over its absence in the antitrust debate, two people familiar with the discussions told POLITICO in July.
IA CEO K. Dane Snowden sent an email to staff on Tuesday alerting them that there will be an all-hands meeting tomorrow, according to one person familiar with the email, who requested anonymity to discuss internal conversations.
----------------------------------------
By: Emily Birnbaum
Title: Silicon Valley’s voice in Washington to dissolve
Sourced From: www.politico.com/news/2021/12/14/silicon-valleys-voice-in-washington-to-dissolve-524486
Published Date: Tue, 14 Dec 2021 20:47:06 EST
Did you miss our previous article...
https://consumernewsnetwork.com/politics-us/theyre-sick-and-tired-of-masks-democratic-governors-combat-covid-fatigue
