Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) have condemned the Google-funded New America Foundation think tank for firing members who supported the European Union’s sanctions against Google.
According to The Hill, Warren called the firing of the think tank’s Open Markets group “troubling” and warned, “academic institutions not to compromise their work for financial backers.”
Rep. Keith Ellison also expressed his support for the ousted group in a post on Twitter, declaring, “Open Markets does terrific work on monopoly power and inequality. Excited for their new chapter!”
Last week, members of the Open Markets team at the New America Foundation were reportedly kicked out after they praised the European Union’s decision to fine Google, who fund the think tank, for violating anti-trust regulations.
In an article for the Washington Post, Zephyr Teachout, a member of the team, claimed Google was “coming after critics in academia and journalism,” and added that the company “is forming into a government of itself.”
“Google has established a pattern of lobbying and threatening to acquire power. It has reached a dangerous point common to many monarchs: The moment where it no longer wants to allow dissent,” wrote Teachout in her article. “It appears that Google may have lost sight of what being evil means, in the way that most monarchs do: Once you reach a pinnacle of power, you start to believe that any threats to your authority are themselves villainous and that you are entitled to shut down dissent.”
In an article for The Intercept, Teachout also announced she will be “the board chair of a new organization, comprised of the same team [kicked out of New America], doing the same work.”
“We will be launching in the fall, and I am helping to create a new digital campaign, Citizens Against Monopoly, to help channel the tremendous public concern that we know exists around monopoly power,” she declared. “Google’s actions make it more important than ever that we stand up to fight monopolies. At the end of the day, this is about freedom.”
Charlie Nash is a reporter for Breitbart Tech. You can follow him on Twitter @MrNashington and Gab @Nash, or like his page at Facebook.
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