Officially, the online search giant Google’s mission is to “organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” According to two new reports—one from the Wall Street Journal and one from the nonprofit, nonpartisan Campaign for Accountability’s Google Transparency Project, the company doesn’t just organize. When Google wishes it had information that’d maybe help further its policy and regulatory goals, it just pays academics under the table to gin it up.

Company pays stipends of $5,000 to $400,000 for research supporting business practices that face regulatory scrutiny; a ‘wish list’ of topics.

Campaign for Accountability released a new report, Google Academics Inc., revealing Google’s extensive financial support for academics and policy experts. CfA identified 329 research papers published between 2005 and 2017 on public policy matters of interest to Google that were in some way funded by the company.

Statement from CfA Executive Director Daniel Stevens regarding Google's support for academia

On November 28, 2016, CfA released a new report detailing Google's support for Hillary Clinton. Google executives and employees bet heavily on a Clinton victory, hoping to extend the company’s influence on the Obama White House.

On October 25, 2016, CfA called on the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) General Counsel to investigate correspondence between Google Vice President Vint Cert and FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler about a provision of a pending rulemaking proceeding. The communication appears to violate the FCC's rules requiring the disclosure of ex parte communications.