Does Google Rule America?

REVEALED: Google staffers have had at least 427 meetings at the White House over course of Obama presidency - averaging more than one a week

Mail Online: Newly compiled data reveals Google and its affiliates have attended meetings at the White House more than once a week, on average, since President Barack Obama took office. 

Numbers crunched by the Campaign for Accountability and the Intercept show 169 Google employees have met with 182 government officials in the White House. 

The meetings took place at least 427 times. The data used spans from Obama's first month in office in 2009 until October 2015, and includes government meetings with representatives of Google-affiliated companies Tomorrow Ventures and Civis Analytics. 

The Google employee with the most visits is the company's head of public policy, Johanna Shelton, who paid the White House 128 visits. 

The government's apparently cozy relationship with Google was brought up about a year ago by the Wall Street Journal.

In response to a story in the Journal titled 'Google Makes Most of Close Ties to White House,' the company responded: 'Of course we’ve had many meetings at the White House over the years.'

Google wrote that topics discussed in the meetings ranged from patent reform, STEM education, and self-driving cars to Internet censorship, smart contact lenses, and cyber security.

Friday's report in the Intercept came a week after Obama announced his support for a Federal Communications Commission plan that would make it easier for pay-TV customers to buy their own set-top boxes - a plan which an AT&T executive blasted as a 'Google proposal.'

'This will allow for companies to create new, innovative, higher-quality, lower-cost products,' the White House wrote in a blog post announcing the initiative.

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