Google’s Dominance in Washington Faces a Reckoning

Google’s parent company, Alphabet, made a big bet on Hillary Clinton winning the 2016 presidential election. Employees donated $1.6 million to her campaign, about 80% more than the amount given by workers at any other corporation, and Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt helped set up companies to analyze political data for the campaign. Schmidt even wore a badge labeled “STAFF” at Mrs. Clinton’s election-night bash. His support of the losing side didn’t go unnoticed among the victors. As President-elect Donald Trump was preparing for a meeting with tech executives at Trump Tower not long before his inauguration, he asked strategist Stephen Bannon whether Schmidt was “the guy that tried to help Hillary win the election,” according to someone who heard the conversation. “Yes,” said  Bannon. “Yes, he is." Google, one of the most powerful players in Washington in recent years, is now facing the consequences of its lost political clout—and is moving mountains to regain it. During the Obama years, Google held sway with both parties in Congress and members of the administration.  Schmidt often met with President Barack Obama at the White House through advisory boards and other events. The company defeated an antitrust probe by U.S. regulators and secured favorable rules on net neutrality, online liability and copyright issues. Today, the search-and-advertising giant has come under attack from Republicans on all those fronts, as well as a new challenge over consumer privacy. Democrats, for their part, are rethinking their attitude toward regulating the company amid allegations that Russia used Google and other internet platforms in an attempt to influence the 2016 presidential election.