In the hours after European antitrust regulators levied a record $2.7 billion fine against Google in late June, an influential Washington think tank learned what can happen when a tech giant that shapes public policy debates with its enormous wealth is criticized.<\/p>\n
The New America Foundation has received more than $21 million from Google; its parent company\u2019s executive chairman, Eric Schmidt; and his family\u2019s foundation since the think tank\u2019s founding in 1999. That money helped to establish New America as an elite voice in policy debates on the American left.<\/p>\n
But not long after one of New America\u2019s scholars posted a statement on the think tank\u2019s website praising the European Union\u2019s penalty against Google, Mr. Schmidt, who had been chairman of New America until 2016, communicated his displeasure with the statement to the group\u2019s president, Anne-Marie Slaughter, according to the scholar.<\/p>\n
The statement disappeared from New America\u2019s website, only to be reposted without explanation a few hours later. But word of Mr. Schmidt\u2019s displeasure rippled through New America, which employs more than 200 people, including dozens of researchers, writers and scholars, most of whom work in sleek Washington offices where the main conference room is called the \u201cEric Schmidt Ideas Lab.\u201d The episode left some people concerned that Google intended to discontinue funding, while others worried whether the think tank could truly be independent if it had to worry about offending its donors.<\/p>\n