What Big Tech’s “Chamber of Progress” Is Really All About

A vaguely-named influence shop does Big Tech’s heavy lifting

As the Big Tech antitrust debate unfolds in public, there’s a name that seems to keep popping up: the Chamber of Progress.

There it was earlier this week, leading a group of 13 organizations — almost all funded by Big Tech — in opposition to the antitrust bills circulating through Congress. A few days later, it released a sponsored poll revealing voter skepticism around the bills. The Chamber’s founder and CEO, Adam Kovacevich, has become a dial-a-quote for reporters, always happy to make Big Tech’s case as the companies stay above the fray. He just mass emailed another quote as I wrote this paragraph.

The Chamber — and organizations like it — are crucial to Big Tech’s plan to thwart the bills targeting their anticompetitive behavior. Vaguely-named and paid for by Amazon, Facebook, Google, Uber, and others, the Chamber’s activities create an illusion of broad support for the tech giants that doesn’t always match reality. And its progressive stances, announced as it debuted in March 2021 — right after the Democrats won the House, Senate, and White House — position it to influence those cracking down on its benefactors.