Google's policy maker reorganizes his team for a global lobbying campaign

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Google, Alphabet Inc, is trying to connect audiences around the world by redesigning the workings of its policy office, putting more emphasis on the presence of politicians and senior executives in the world. Establishment of relations with governments, the matter said this week.

Government officials in the United States, India, Ireland, Singapore, Australia and at least several other countries have threatened to regulate or open investigations into Google's privacy practices, on the control of videos and inappropriate applications and the potential for abuse of dominance in Internet searches. and advertising.

Negative attention to Google's power and data collection practices could undermine its public image and impose costly business changes.

Google's Global Policy Office had spent years without major strategy changes until Karan Bhatia was hired last June at General Electric Co, where he also directed government affairs and policy.

During his first year, he added "government affairs" on behalf of his unit prior to "public policy" to insist on building relationships beyond writing a white paper, revising reporting relationships and the reduction of the list of contractual lobbyists, said eight people.

These changes are aimed at getting Google's various units, including cloud computing, consumer and YouTube hardware, as well as key leaders from each unit, to play a more active role in lobbying on issues that affect them and prepare the company to consistently meet the same regulatory threats in different sectors of society. the world, said sources.

In Washington, lawmakers have long expressed concern that Google executives are not committing enough to address their concerns or personally weigh in political discussions, according to lobbyists. The issue attracted attention last September when Senators clearly left an empty seat to Google at a hearing of the Integrity Intelligence Committee after the company refused to go ahead. ###################################################################### 39, send a senior officer to testify.

This mistake has been recognized by Google's leaders in Washington, and a series of political defeats on issues such as copyright in Europe and censorship in Asia have given Bhatia a great openness to make changes, said sources. Google CEO Sundar Pichai has been to Washington every three months since joining Bhatia, including to talk with President Donald Trump.

The company declined to comment on this story. Spokespersons have declined multiple requests to interview Bhatia since hiring him.

NEW STRUCTURE

Bhatia has developed a centralized policy across a set of "centers of excellence", each focused on a separate issue, such as data privacy rules, competition law or economic policy, sources said.

Google's policy team was organized at the regional level, a remnant of the company's gradual expansion into new countries. But different regions with limited coordination each had their own plans to create proposals to solve the same problem.

Under Bhatia, these regional teams are now focusing more on interactions with legislators and regulators in the office, sources said.

Ted Osius for the Asia-Pacific region and Doron Avni for Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Greater Russia are among the four regional leaders in Bhatia. The leaders of the United States of America and Europe have not been appointed.

Leslie Miller, who oversees the Centers of Excellence, and Wilson White, who oversees the teams that pass on information to YouTube, Google Cloud, and other business units, are also reporting to Bhatia.

MORE INTERNAL PARTICIPATION

Getting Pichai and its product managers to participate more has been a challenge over the years, as Pichai was reluctant to make collaboration with policymakers a vital task, people said, unlike CEOs such as Apple, Tim Cook , and General Motors, Mary Barra.

Bhatia could end up attracting product leaders into government affairs by having individual Google units hire lobbying companies directly in the future, sources said.

He has already begun to redefine lobbying contracts. Google recently sacked a long-time lobbying company in Europe and threatened to pull up to 20 of its US lobbying companies out of the 26 it was working with last year, sources said.

An American company said it had learned that its last day would be June 30, while three others said they were waiting for Google's word. All refused to be named because they were not allowed to comment on their client.

The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, citing unnamed sources, that Google had fired six US lobbying companies, which together accounted for about half of its $ 20 million national lobbying budget.