Warren criticizes think tank for ousting scholar who ripped Google

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) weighed in on the controversial firing of a think tank scholar who praised a fine levied on Google, arguing the credibility of think tanks is jeopardized if their decisions are linked too closely to their financial backers.

Warren said a story in The New York Times about the firing of New America scholar Barry Lynn was “troubling.”

“Think tanks play a critical role in shaping policy, but their credibility is jeopardized when decisions are based on funder preferences,” she wrote in a second tweet.

This story is troubling. https://t.co/UmRVi2UnSI

— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) August 30, 2017

Think tanks play a critical role in shaping policy, but their credibility is jeopardized when decisions are based on funder preferences.

— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) August 30, 2017

{mosads}Lynn was fired after a statement he wrote praising the European Union’s multibillion dollar fine on Google was posted on the New America website. 

Google and its CEO, Eric Schmidt, are big contributors to New America.

Lynn blamed Google for his firing, something denied by the tech company and New America CEO Anne-Marie Slaughter. 

Emails included in the story published Wednesday by the Times said Slaughter told Lynn that the time had come for New America to part with Open Markets, a group Lynn led within the larger organization that had criticized the market dominance of Google and other big tech companies, after his statement praising the Google fine was published.

Lynn then criticized New America publicly in an interview with the Times.

“Google is very aggressive in throwing its money around Washington and Brussels, and then pulling the strings,” Lynn told the Times, referring to the headquarters of the European Union. “People are so afraid of Google now.”

Lynn was fired after the article was published.