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Between 2011 and 2003, when the U.S. Federal Trade Commission was investigating Google for various business practices, including whether it illegally favored its own services in search results, the search giant donated a hunk of money to forge close ties with influential academic figures.
Between 2011 and 2013, Google donated more than $760,000 to George Mason University, which published a number of favorable research papers and held several conferences for which the company recommended invitees and speakers, David Dayden reports in a long piece for Salon.
Although The Washington Post reported on Google's connection with George Mason's conferences last year, Salon's report highlights just how much money the company invested in the relationship. Salon used canceled checks obtained in public records requests to determine the financial sums involved.
Corporate funded academic research isn't new or unique to Google, but the story highlights the importance of double-checking the citations in research papers that a company disseminates — especially when said papers cast the company or its strategies in a favorable light.
Salon's piece also follows a critical Wall Street Journal report earlier this year that revealed an internal FTC document demonstrating how key officials did think the commission should launch an antitrust case against Google.
The investment seems to have paid off. In 2013, the FTC decided to drop its antitrust investigation of Google.
Google declined to comment when reached about the Salon piece; we'll update if we hear back from George Mason University.
The Salon report in its entirety provides an interesting look at what Dayden calls Google's "insidious shadow lobbying" — read it here.
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