The latest Google controversy shows how corporate funding stifles criticism

A Q&A with media critic Douglas Rushkoff, a New York–based writer and professor at Queens College and author of "Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus: How Growth Became the Enemy of Prosperity."

Rushkoff said, "What we know for sure is that people around the world are becoming more conscious of the particular way that technology mega-corporations are working to change the legal and media landscape. Jeff Bezos buys the Washington Post so that his technology platform monolith has a voice. In Google, we have a situation where the world’s largest technology platform is also the world’s largest advertising platform. Things start to get messy. Google’s also the nation’s biggest lobbyist in DC. Does that mean Google is evil? Not necessarily. But their influence is very big. It wouldn’t be surprising to see organizations of all kinds accommodating the needs of one of these companies or another, whether it’s a publishing house accommodating Amazon books or New America accommodating Google’s lobbying arm."