Google Said to Have Regular Meetings with White House Officials
Gabriel Roşu / 10 years ago
The Wall Street Journal apparently got their hands on some visitor logs and emails linking high-ranking Google employees, including Eric Schmidt, meeting with White House officials 230 times across two terms, adding up to once a week meet-ups in the last four years.
Some of the meetings also look to have taken place during the final weeks before the commission settled with Google. The documents apparently help show how Google has become a lobbying powerhouse in recent years, such that it was able to defeat a major antitrust investigation.
It looks like Comcast has a similar kind of power in the government, having it be the only company to outspend Google’s $16.8 million in lobbying dollars last year. However, Comcast apparently met just 20 times in the last few years.
Also, it is reported that Google employees have moved over to roles in the White House in the past, having Obama naming former VP Megan Smith as his new chief technology officer last year.
Thank you Yahoo! Tech for providing us with this information
