But according to the bill’s author, state Senator Scott Wiener, Silicon Valley played dirty to sway public opinion about SB 1047. He previously told TechCrunch that venture capitalists from Y Combinator and a16z engaged in a propaganda campaign against the bill.
Specifically, these groups spread a claim that SB 1047 would send software developers to jail for perjury. Y Combinator asked young founders to sign a letter saying as much in June 2024. Around the same time, Andreessen Horowitz general partner Anjney Midha made a similar claim on a podcast.