Uber, Lyft, Doordash, and Instacart are innovating yet again. First they disrupted labor law, misclassifying full-time workers as independent contractors and stripping them of hard-won benefits and protections. Now they’re pioneers on a new frontier, where multibillion dollar corporations pay expensive campaign operatives to encourage targeted online harassment of private citizens who criticize them.

At the moment, rideshare and delivery app companies are locked in a cage match with the state of California. Last year California passed AB 5, a bill that tightened the definition of independent contractors in a way that excludes their app drivers. Uber and Lyft refused to comply with the new law and skated by until last month, when a judge ruled that they needed to reclassify their workers as employees within ten days. The companies appealed the ruling, and even threatened a capital strike if they didn’t get their way. Another judge has ruled that they can continue normal operations until mid-October. As the weeks tick by, the pressure mounts.

The corporations’ rationale for fighting back so hard is transparent. Uber and Lyft want to be exempt from laws that guarantee workers health benefits, overtime pay, reimbursement for work expenses, paid time off, workers’ compensation, protection from discrimination, and unemployment benefits should they find themselves out of work — because following these laws costs money they don’t want to spend.