MoveOn.org urges Google to quit Chamber of Commerce

Liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org launched an online petition on Monday to urge Google to quit the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

“Right now we have a huge opportunity to deal a serious blow to one of Washington’s most powerful lobbies, the deeply conservative U.S. Chamber of Commerce,” the group wrote on its website. 

A blog post in support of the petition says Google should leave the Chamber to fulfill its company’s motto of doing no evil. 

{mosads} The liberal group describes the Chamber as “an army of lobbyists for hire by mega-corporations like banks and those in the fossil fuel industry.”

The group argues that as long as Google pays membership dues to the Chamber, money it makes from its users “goes into the Chamber’s pockets to fight for Wall Street and Big Oil.”

Google is reportedly thinking of leaving the chamber, though not for the reasons cited by MoveOn.

Google disagrees with the Chamber over its aggressive lobbying campaign in support of two copyright protection bills, the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act. The measures’ supporters say the bills are necessary to curb online content theft, but Google and other web companies argue they would impose unreasonable burdens on businesses and could stifle online innovation. Politico first reported that Google was considering leaving the Chamber. 

MoveOn’s campaign is less about the copyright bills than it is about undermining the Chamber of Commerce.

The group argues that if Google leaves, it will “undermine the Chamber’s influence in Washington.” 

The full text of the petition is: “Google, stand up for democracy and your users—quit the U.S. Chamber of Commerce!”

Sum of Us, a new consumer advocacy group, first began the campaign to pressure Google to leave the Chamber.

—Updated on Dec. 6.