US: Google criticized for think tank firing

The New America Foundation, a prominent Washington, DC think tank that’s heavily funded by Google, has parted ways with one of its most influential scholars after he criticized Google’s growing monopoly power.

The scholar is Barry Lynn, founder of New America’s Open Markets program and a leading advocate of stricter enforcement of antitrust laws. In June, Barry Lynn, who was a scholar at New America, posted a statement praising the European Union’s record US$2.7 billion fine against Google. Lynn ran a team, Open Markets, that researched competition policy and was increasingly critical of giants like Google and Amazon.

Google executive chairman and former CEO Eric Schmidt criticized Lynn’s statement to the think tank’s CEO, Anne-Marie Slaughter, according to The New York Times.

The statement reportedly disappeared from the think tank website but returned hours later. According to the Times, word of Schmidt’s displeasure spread across the think tank.

Slaughter fired Lynn days later, saying in an email obtained by the Times that “the time has come for Open Markets and New America to part ways.” Slaughter told Lynn in an email that his firing was “in no way based on the content of your work” but said he was “imperiling the institution as a whole.”

Lynn told the Times he believed his dismissal was because he criticized Google.

“Google is very aggressive in throwing its money around Washington and Brussels, and then pulling the strings,” Lynn told the Times. “People are so afraid of Google now.”

In a tweet, Slaughter called the Times story “false” and said the think tank would publish a full statement later Wednesday, August 30.

Shortly after The New America Foundation published a statement in response to the Times article. In the release, Slaughter patently denies any accusation that “Google lobbied New America to expel the Open Markets program because of this press release.” She writes that Lynn’s “repeated refusal to adhere to New America’s standards of openness and institutional collegiality meant that we could no longer work together as part of the same institution.”

A Google representative also said, “We support hundreds of organizations that promote a free and open Internet, greater access to information, and increased opportunity. We don’t agree with every group 100% of the time, and while we sometimes respectfully disagree, we respect each group’s independence, personnel decisions, and policy perspectives.”

Full Content: New York Times

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