Bloomberg is reporting that the search giant has made a contribution of $25,000 in honor to the chairman of the Federal Trade Commission although the company was under investigation by the agency over antitrust violations. Google donated the money to a San Francisco-based advocacy group name Common Sense Media which had given FTC Chariman Jon Leibowitz an award for his work in developing policies to help children.
Google was one among the sponsors of the awards event along with other companies in the line up including Comcast, AOL and Goldman Sachs Group charitable division. Counting on investigation, the FTC currently finding out that whether the search giant unfairly disadvantaged its rivals websites by putting its own services results in top.
“It’s a little bit odd that they’re donating to Common Sense Media at the exact same time they’re trying to influence Jon Leibowitz,” said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a watchdog group. “It really looks terrible.”
