The analysis was published by the Campaign for Accountability, a Washington-based organization financed<\/a> by one of Google\u2019s harshest critics.<\/p>\n Google\u2019s financial and policy links with groups like the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels and the Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society in Berlin highlight the company\u2019s increasingly sophisticated lobbying<\/a> tactics to woo EU policymakers, who hold great sway over its corporate interests on the Continent and beyond.<\/p>\n Google\u2019s ties to European research groups and academics have not helped it steer clear of regulatory scrutiny.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The disclosures by the Campaign for Accountability, which published a similar report<\/a> last year outlining Google\u2019s links with U.S. academics, also shed light on the tug-of-war between the search giant and its tech rivals. The Washington-based group is partly funded by Oracle, a long-time staunch Google critic, which also holds legal control<\/a> over FairSearch, another anti-Google group at the center of Europe\u2019s antitrust charges against the company.<\/p>\n \u201cGoogle\u2019s strategy is to put money into a few institutions,\u201d said Daniel Stevens, executive director at the Campaign for Accountability, who declined to comment on the group\u2019s ties to Oracle. \u201cIf they can muddy the waters by pointing to academic papers, it helps their cause.\u201d<\/p>\n Google refuted claims it had bought influence among EU policymakers, adding that its financial support for research organizations is open to public scrutiny and did not affect those groups\u2019 focus on digital topics. It also questioned the motives of Campaign for Accountability, which did not disclose its own source of funding.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re happy to support academic researchers in Europe,\u201d said Al Verney, a Google spokesman. \u201cUnlike our competitors who fund the Campaign for Accountability, we expect and require our grantees to disclose their funding.\u201d<\/p>\n Google\u2019s ties to European research groups and academics have not helped it steer clear of regulatory scrutiny. Officials in Brussels, Paris and Berlin have filed antitrust charges, issued privacy fines and tried other ways to reduce the search giant\u2019s perceived dominance of the digital world. That includes a \u20ac2.4 billion antitrust fine<\/a> last year from Margrethe Vestager, the EU competition chief, for Google unfairly favoring some of its search services over those of rivals. The company is appealing that decision.<\/p>\n The tech company has provided roughly \u20ac9 million to the Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society, a Berlin-based research organization whose academics wrote reports and papers linked to digital issues tied to Google\u2019s underlying business, according to the institute\u2019s own public filings. That figure represented roughly three quarters of the organization\u2019s yearly funding at a time when German politicians, including Angela Merkel, the country\u2019s chancellor, raised questions about Google\u2019s dominance over many parts of the online world.<\/p>\n Wolfgang Schulz, director of the Humboldt Institute, acknowledged that Google\u2019s funding placed greater responsibility on the organization to be impartial, but said the company had no say over research. He added that the organization\u2019s contract with Google meant it only automatically received half of the annual \u20ac1.5 million budget from the search giant. The other half was dependent on the Humboldt Institute finding matching funding, on a euro-per-euro basis, from other corporate or government groups.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are extremely transparent,\u201d Schulz said. \u201cWhen you accept corporate money, you are under special observation.\u201d<\/p>\n In London, Google also provided funding for the Research Alliance for a Digital Europe, or READIE, a think tank operated by Nesta, an independent foundation with ties to the British government, according to the Campaign for Accountability\u2019s report.<\/p>\n READIE published dozens of studies on digital topics, some \u2014 but not all \u2014 favorable to Google\u2019s lobbying positions, while its events provided the search giant\u2019s executives an opportunity to reach EU decision-makers, according to the Washington-based organization. That included privileged access to some of Europe\u2019s most senior policymakers, including a 2017 presentation on digital policy by READIE\u2019s founder Valerie Mocker, which was attended by Merkel.<\/p>\n Mocker said the organization\u2019s costs were split equally between Nesta and Google, and that it was always transparent about which groups and organizations were involved in its research.<\/p>\n \u201cNesta independently runs READIE as a platform to share policies; connect Europe\u2019s policymakers with businesses and entrepreneurs,\u201d she wrote in an email.<\/p>\n The Campaign for Accountability also highlights Google\u2019s membership of the Centre for European Policy Studies, or CEPS, a leading Brussels-based think tank chaired by Joaqu\u00edn Almunia, the former competition commissioner who tried unsuccessfully to settle an EU antitrust probe with Google. The organization counts among its researchers a former Google employee and Andrea Renda, a professor occupying<\/a> a Google-sponsored chair at the College of Europe, a post-graduate institute.<\/p>\n The Campaign for Accountability claims CEPS researchers\u2019 stance on digital issues was influenced after Google began donating to the think tank and hosting its conferences, which promoted the company\u2019s positions to senior EU policymakers. The group said the think tank wrote several policy papers critical of the Commission\u2019s antitrust investigation into Google, though this work was not fully against Brussels\u2019 stance, according to a review of CEPS\u2019 documents.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is part of the larger picture where larger internet companies are dominating this conversation\u201d \u2014 Daniel Freund, head of advocacy EU integrity at Transparency International<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The think tank said that Google paid an annual corporate membership of \u20ac12,000, or less than 1 percent of its total membership income, and that the relationship did not give the company a say over its research topics.<\/p>\n \u201cCEPS remains committed to its founding values of transparency and independence, meticulously upheld by our researchers and members of management,\u201d the organization said in a statement.<\/p>\n Renda, the senior research fellow at CEPS, said that his critical stance toward the Commission\u2019s antitrust investigation into Google was similar to his position against Brussels\u2019 previous probe into Microsoft abuses more than a decade ago.<\/p>\n Lobbying experts said Google\u2019s ability to influence academics or think tanks depends on its financial deals with them, but that the amount of overall tech funding going into research risked distorting the debate around issues key to corporate interests.<\/p>\n \u201cLarger internet companies are dominating this conversation,\u201d said Daniel Freund, head of advocacy EU integrity at Transparency International, whose corporate sponsors include Statoil and Microsoft. \u201cYou don\u2019t have to script every message, but you fund the conversation taking place.\u201d<\/p>\n Original Article<\/a><\/p>\n [contf] [contfnew] Google cultivated links with academics and research organiza..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":69169,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech"],"yoast_head":"\n\n
Google\u2019s academic ties<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Building links in Brussels<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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