How Google influences the conversation in Washington

Enlarge / Google CEO Sundar Pichai.

A few days after last year's midterm election, a Google policy manager and lobbyist sent an email to a congressional staffer with a link to a blog post on the right-wing news site Red State, written under the name The Real DC. In the post, the author accuses Google's competitor Yelp of prodding President Trump to tweet a "professionally designed" video about Google's alleged bias, which The Real DC calls "fake news" because it "bears many similarities" to content produced by Yelp.

In the email, a copy of which was viewed by Wired, Ed An, the Google lobbyist, said he does not typically share articles from Red State but thought the staffer would find this one interesting.

Neither Red State, its publisher Townhall Media, nor its owner Salem Media Group responded to repeated questions about The Real DC. In a statement, An, the Google lobbyist, said he has no knowledge "of the author who goes by The Real DC." Yelp Vice President of Public Policy Luther Lowe denied any connection to the video or tweet.

Read 23 remaining paragraphs | Comments