On September 4, 2018, CfA released a report documenting how CfA bought politically divisive ads on Google using Russian rubles and a Russian IP address. CfA posed as the infamous Russian troll farm, the Internet Research Agency (IRA), and bought ads using similar language and the same images that the IRA deployed during its 2016 influence campaign. The ads ran on major U.S. media websites and their YouTube channels.
"Dozens of Google alumni would serve in the White House or elsewhere in the administration, and by one estimate Google representatives visited the White House an average of about once a week."
"A new report from the Campaign for Accountability details the questionable role of internet platforms in election races."
On August 14, 2018, CfA released a new report, “Partisan Programming,” detailing how political campaigns utilize embedded staffers from Facebook and Google to help run their campaigns – an arrangement that provides companies with unique access to top politicians. CfA also called on the leaders of the House and Senate Rules Committees to investigate the arrangement and determine whether new laws or regulations are needed to prevent tech companies from abusing their relationships with politicians.
On June 26, 2018, CfA released the results of a new poll showing voters support increased regulation of internet and technology companies. The poll also found that Americans believe internet and technology companies have a negative impact on many aspects of society, particularly privacy.
“Public officials need to be aware that this so-called startup advocacy group is really in bed with Silicon Valley’s foremost D.C. influence machine, whose interests are often in conflict with those of disruptive entrepreneurs,” said Daniel Stevens of the Campaign for Accountability, which released the report.
On May 30, 2018, CfA released a new report, “The Lobbyist in the Garage,” revealing that Engine, a San Francisco-based nonprofit claiming to represent the “voice of startups in government,” is little more than an apparent AstroTurf lobbying group created by current and former Google employees to advance Google’s interests.
"A report seen by The Times examined the financial backing of five institutions in Britain and Europe. The academic groups also stage events that allow Google lobbyists to rub shoulders with ministers and policymakers who might not attend those run under the technology company’s branding. The report, compiled by a US watchdog, said that Europe was crucial to Google because the European Commission was the only regulator outside America with sufficient clout to cause the company to change its conduct."
On March 16, 2018, CfA released a new report revealing how Google has paid tens of millions of euros to European academic institutions over the past decade to develop an influential network of friendly European academics who write research papers supporting the tech giant’s business interests.
On October 30, 2017, Campaign for Accountability released a report revealing Google continues to place ads on websites that promote false information despite promises to alter its practices. CfA analyzed a sample of 1,255 news publishers and found that Google continues to place ads on hyper-partisan and misleading websites, resulting in millions of dollars in revenue for the company.