In California, gig companies paid off woke groups to lie and claim helping drivers unionize was racist and harmful to people of color, bail bond industry paid woke groups to claim ending cash bail was racist, oil refineries paid off woke groups to prevent higher taxes. It worked.
Industry groups — from Uber to Chevron to the entire predatory bail bond industry — paid off woke activists to invoke racial justice rhetoric in order to convince voters to back far right positions for Prop 15, Prop 22 and Prop 25. Business groups prevailed in all of them.
In the not too distant past, business advanced neoliberals goals through racist white racial grievance politics. In this cultural era, especially in Democratic regions of the country, the same neoliberal goals are advanced through bad faith woke social justice front groups.
Capital does not care about culture. When an oil company operates in Malaysia, it donates to Muslim groups; when the same firm needs to win a ballot measure in SF, they sponsor LGBT rallies and BLM orgs; when influencing Texas, they will sponsor pro police and veteran orgs.