Google Reportedly Paid Professors For Favorable Policy Papers

[tao]

Google has paid university professors to write academic papers that support its views on public policy issues.

 

That’s according to a report Tuesday by the Wall Street Journal that’s based on an analysis of 329 research papers identified by the Campaign for Accountability advocacy group as linked to Google in some way.

 

The non-profit’s study showed that these research papers, published between 2005 to 2017 and covering policy subjects like antitrust issues, “were in some way funded by the company,” the Campaign for Accountability wrote.

 

The Journal’s report also includes emails from professors that highlight some of the ways Google (goog, +0.14%) sought to influence their writings. University of Florida law professor Daniel Sokol, for example, wrote an academic paper that said Google’s handling of user data—a controversial issue for privacy advocates—was legal.

 

However, Sokol failed to disclose that he worked as a part-time lawyer for the law firm that represents Google. Additionally, emails uncovered by the Journal show that Sokol apparently asked Google for money to help persuade other professors to write policy papers based on unspecified patent issues in conjunction with a Google-backed online conference.

 

Google told the Journal that it did not pay any professors, but emails between Sokol and Google show that Sokol asked Google to send him “$5,000, like last time” for his work at the conference. Sokol told the Journal that he “should have disclosed the sponsorship for such organization and have now done so.”

 

Numerous other examples of Google influencing academics are highlighted by the Journal’s report, including one from University of Michigan law professor Daniel Crane who declined to take money from Google to support his paper that argued against “antitrust regulation of internet search engines.”

 

“Yeah, the money is good but it does get in the way of objective academic research,” Crane said.

 

Google issued a harsh response Tuesday to the Campaign for Accountability’s analysis of academic papers with financial ties to the search giant. Google said the non-profit’s report is “highly misleading” and that when Google provides money to academics, “we expect and require grantees to properly disclose our funding.”

 

The search giant also chastised the non-profit for failing to disclose it’s own corporate backers, which, as Fortune’s Jeff Roberts reported last summer, includes Oracle (orcl, +0.52%).

 

Google said that Oracle is “running a well-documented lobbying campaign against us,” and that the non-profit’s other corporate “backers won’t ‘fess up either” about their financial ties to the group.

 

An Oracle spokesperson told Fortune that the company has "absolutely nothing to do with this report."

 

“We’re proud of our programs and their integrity,” Google said in a statement. “The ‘Campaign for Accountability’ and its funders are, clearly, not proud of theirs.”

 

It should be noted that Google's statement did not mention the Journal's report highlighting emails between Google employees and various professors.

 

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[humble3d]

University professors have also been known to solicit sex from students who want higher grades...

Many Educational institutions in The States are at best hacks and at worst fraudsters selling

false hopes and dreams to naive students...

[pc71520]

University Professors have been naughty; so naughty...

[tao]

Google: No, we don't fund biased research. And just look who's paying our accusers

Google defends funding researchers to produce papers on public-policy issues that affect its business.

 

Google has responded to accusations in a Wall Street Journal article that it gives grants to academics to produce research designed to sway public opinion on regulatory matters affecting its business.

 

The story covers results from a report by the Campaign for Accountability, or CfA, a Washington-based non-profit that recently launched the Google Transparency Project, an ongoing campaign that is critical of the company.

 

The report identifies 329 papers on public-policy matters relevant to Google that were in "some way" funded by the company.

 

The WSJ identified grants of between $5,000 and $400,000, some of which aren't disclosed in the papers. A former Google employee claimed the company had a list of research topics it wanted produced and then shopped around for academics to work on the projects.

 

CfA said its report aims to enlighten regulators that some apparently independent academic work is in fact sponsored by Google. The papers include subjects relevant to Google's business, such as antitrust, privacy, net neutrality, patents and copyright.

 

Google's director of public policy, Leslie Miller, said the CfA's report was "highly misleading" and accused it of inflating the numbers by attributing funding to Google when it actually came from associations to which Google belongs.

 

Miller also points out the non-profit's own transparency issues, given that the CfA's only known backer is Oracle.

 

"The irony of discussing disclosures and transparency with the Campaign for Accountability is that this group consistently refuses to name its corporate funders. And those backers won't 'fess up either," wrote Miller.

 

"The one funder the world does know about is Oracle, which is running a well-documented lobbying campaign against us. In its own name and through proxies, Oracle has funded many hundreds of articles, research papers, symposia and reports.

 

"Oracle is not alone. You can easily find similar activity by companies and organizations funded by our competitors, like AT&T, the MPAA, ICOMP, FairSearch and dozens more, including hundreds of pieces directly targeting Google."

 

Miller doesn't deny that Google funds academic work though its "many research programs" and points to a common interest among some academics and to Google's support for the principles underlying an open internet, such as copyright, patents, and free expression.

 

In other words, Google does fund some research that supports its business on regulatory issues, but as Miller highlights, not all the research in the CfA's report is supportive of Google's policy positions.

 

She added that Google requires guarantees to disclose funding when the company provides it and that it works to tighten its requirements if there are omissions.

 

"We're proud of our programs and their integrity. The Campaign for Accountability and its funders are, clearly, not proud of theirs," wrote Miller.

 

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