Travis Kalanick and his newest venture into the restaurant industry have been in the news recently for lobbying regulators to force delivery apps like Uber Eats and DoorDash to turn over customer data. Legislation the Digital Restaurant Association (DRA) has been pushing would benefit Travis Kalanick’s food companies, CloudKitchens and Otter, which are under his parent company, City Storage Systems.
Kalanick and the DRA have been lobbying lawmakers to pass legislation that would require food delivery companies to provide data to restaurants that utilize their services. The DRA previously tried to pass legislation in the Miami-Dade Commission and in Georgia, but have been unsuccessful.
According to lobbying filings, the DRA has registered to lobby in the city of Los Angeles and the county of Los Angeles. The group has been running a campaign to advocate for additional legislation in the Los Angeles City Council and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.
Reed Albergotti and Semafor reported on Kalanick’s recent actions and highlighted the “sneaky” way the DRA is handling its lobbying efforts, “the way DRA is handling its lobbying push appears sneaky. Some lawmakers undoubtedly think they are trying to help small businesses and consumers, only to find out the effort is tied to Kalanick and a $15 billion startup.”
Restaurants and food delivery apps are constantly gaining personal data from consumers and it’s important that people like Kalanick are not able to exploit the use of personal data for their own benefit and profit. The repeated attempts from the Kalanick-backed DRA are alarming and must be taken seriously.
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