Comment by pjmlp

C++ is only independent on the surface, as all the big players seat at WG21, and it goes where their votes say it goes, plus what actually gets implemented into compilers (none of them is 100% ISO compliant, each one has minor compliance issues).

Same applies to C, stuff like C23 is decided by who gets to join WG14.

In both cases, someone has to buy the final standard from ISO.