"In October 2025, from a total of 61 members of the technical steering committees of popular open-source API formats, about 54% are there acting for their employers. More than half of all committee members are there, supposedly, representing the interests of their employers. And this is the norm. To the point that some companies proudly publish it as a requirement on their job ads. “Foster influence across open-source, enterprise, and partner communities” was in a recent role description for a Head of Developer Relations job. It further explained that nurturing relationships with open-source specifications, to help influence future versions, was part of the role’s objectives. Companies big and small, many of them API vendors, sponsor open-source API specification formats. In exchange, they get a few seats at steering committees, making it possible to drive the direction of those projects."
https://apichangelog.substack.com/p/the-hidden-trust-problem-in-api-formats

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