Open Markets, a division at the public policy think tank the New America Foundation, had been an intellectual force in progressive circles in recent years, leading to a heightened awareness of the damaging effects that monopolization is having on both consumers and businesses. Its work focused on everything from hyper-consolidation in the airline industry to a growing concentration of book publishers, but where it really stirred things up was by targeting America’s giant tech companies, particularly Amazon, Facebook, and Alphabet (the umbrella company for Google). Now, Google has apparently struck back, revealing a growing divide between progressives and an industry that has long claimed a home in the Democratic Party.

On Wednesday, The New York Times’s Ken Vogel reported that New America had parted ways with Open Markets following complaints from Eric Schmidt, the executive chairman of Alphabet, a major New America donor. (Schmidt has also made personal donations to New America, and was its chairman until 2016.) In an email reviewed by the Times, Anne-Marie Slaughter, who leads New America, informed Barry Lynn, the head of Open Markets, that “the time has come for Open Markets and New America to part ways.” Slaughter told Lynn that the decision was “in no way based on the content of your work,” but that Lynn was “imperiling the institution as a whole.” In a statement released after the Times published its story, Slaughter said Lynn has been let go for insubordination—for failing “to adhere to New America’s standards of openness and institutional collegiality.”

What had Lynn done exactly? Under Lynn, Open Markets strenuously warned of the perils of Amazon’s growing clout, and pushed the Democratic Party to adopt a harder line on antitrust, with some significant success. But it appears the nail in the coffin was when Open Markets praised the $2.7 billion antitrust fine the European Union levied against Alphabet in June. The statement was briefly taken down from New America’s website, and “word of Mr. Schmidt’s displeasure rippled through New America,” according to the Times. The Times reports that Slaughter also objected to a 2016 Open Markets conference on consolidation in the tech sector, telling Lynn that it could hurt New America’s relationship with Google: “We are in the process of trying to expand our relationship with Google on some absolutely key points ... just THINK about how you are imperiling funding for others.”





Critics of New America say it’s easy to read between the lines here. To ensure that Google would continue funding New America, Slaughter axed the entire Open Markets program. In an interview with the New Republic, Lynn confirmed the account he gave to the Times, pointing to the EU statement and the 2016 conference as “the only two times there were ever tensions with my work.” Slaughter, for her part, says this interpretation is incorrect:

Let me be clearer in era of fake news; facts are largely right, but quotes are taken way out of context and interpretation is wrong. https://t.co/ynlNR8FDEx — Anne-Marie Slaughter (@SlaughterAM) August 30, 2017

Lynn and his team have since launched a new campaign, Citizens Against Monopoly, and will re-launch as a new, yet to be named entity next month. “People should not send us commiserations,” Lynn said. “They should send us congratulations. We held our team together and we’re going to be able to march forward and get stronger in the days ahead.”