Corporate movements: Silicon Valley businesses create and support apparently independent social movements advocating for deregulation

This article introduces and discusses corporate movements, a contemporary phenomenon, in which social movement tactics are deployed in and for the benefit of corporations. Recently, new digital economy businesses have deployed social movement practices and language as part of campaigns for deregulation, building on and mainstreaming practices of ‘corporate grassroots lobbying’. From Uber creating dozens of corporate petitions aimed at authorities, to Airbnb creating hundreds of ‘Host Clubs’ worldwide, and delivery companies organising protests against rules that would benefit couriers, businesses are adopting activist repertoires in order to legitimate their visions for society and shape regulation. This piece discusses recent examples where social movements and activism are being deployed by corporations. It describes the core characteristics of corporate movements, their history, and the wider context of neoliberalism, which has seen increasing intersections and tensions between business and civil society. It discusses some of the themes and debates in social movement studies relevant to this development in platform capitalism, such as resources, grassroots politics, corporate power, and cooptation. It reviews the controversy around corporate movements, and what the risks are of their continued development.