News Summary

• Google sent an email to small business owners in Rhode Island asking them to sign a petition opposing a California privacy bill.
• The tech giant had not taken a public position on the bill.
• Experts warn that the strategy could backfire if the people it reaches out to aren’t buying what the company is selling.
• Google ranked among the most active lobbyists in California last year, spending more to influence the opinions of elected officials than it had in the previous 20 years combined.
• Google registered to lobby 17 bills this year that sought to do things like place warning labels on social media or protect people from algorithms that make health care decisions.