public company
Alphabet / Google
Industry Platforms
A public search, ads, cloud, Android, and AI company built around attention infrastructure, found liable for maintaining search monopoly power. Alphabet / Google remains weak because of youth capture, surveillance capture, and identity capture, even where the product or service has practical value.
Why this matters: Search and advertising infrastructure can shape markets, knowledge access, and identity capture at scale.
Letter grade D Extractive High confidence (AI) Rubric gcd-rubric-v1
* Tentative scaffolding score. Not human-checked or final.
Alphabet / Google receives the Private Government badge because it combines large-scale private rule-setting over customers, workers, users, members, or counterparties with OpenLobby-documented lobbying of about $1.6M on public policy issues.
Evidence: [16]
The L badge appears when the Policy Capture penalty is severe. Here, L stands for Lobbying: the policy-capture value is -8, meaning the evidence indicates major private-interest lobbying or policy pressure against workers, customers, citizens, affected communities, democratic accountability, or ecological life.
Evidence: [15]
Request verification to have the evidence record checked against primary materials and organization-supplied documents. Verification does not buy a higher score; scores change only when review finds factual errors, omissions, or miscalibration.
Evaluation Overview
D - Extractive
The score turns mainly on Extraction, with the largest penalty coming from Policy Capture.
Strengths
- Extraction6/10
- Labor Sovereignty4/7
- Loss-Bearing Fidelity4/7
Penalties
- Policy Capture-8
- Youth Capture-5
- Surveillance Capture-4
- Identity Capture-3
Evidence state
- ConfidenceHigh confidence (AI)
- ThoroughnessDeveloped (AI)
- Linked claims16
- Direct axis claims15
- Coverage15/15
Scoring Axes
| Axis | Score | Why this score |
|---|---|---|
Ownership
?
Control rights: shareholder-dominated at 0, worker cooperative control
at 10.
|
2 / 10 |
Alphabet is a publicly traded corporation governed through shareholder-facing investor and board structures. Linked evidence
|
Governance
?
Binding decision authority: centralized control at 0, democratic
stakeholder control at 10.
|
2 / 10 |
Alphabet is a publicly traded corporation governed through shareholder-facing investor and board structures. Linked evidence
|
Extraction
?
Surplus allocation, wage share, CEO pay ratio, margins, and structured
extraction judgment.
|
6 / 10 |
Alphabet is a publicly traded corporation governed through shareholder-facing investor and board structures. Linked evidence
|
Labor Sovereignty
?
Worker power: coercive conditions at 0, co-determination or ownership at
7. Employee dissatisfaction matters only when source-backed evidence
shows concrete limits on worker agency, such as coercive scheduling,
retaliation, wage theft, harassment, unsafe conditions, suppression of
worker voice, or extreme turnover.
|
4 / 7 |
Alphabet is a publicly traded corporation governed through shareholder-facing investor and board structures. Linked evidence
|
Solidarity with the
Unemployed
?
Treatment of exits and nonworkers, including severance, redeployment,
and non-competes.
|
3 / 7 |
Alphabet is a publicly traded corporation governed through shareholder-facing investor and board structures. Linked evidence
|
Loss-Bearing Fidelity
?
Willingness to absorb costs to preserve values, workers, users, and
public obligations.
|
4 / 7 |
Alphabet is a publicly traded corporation governed through shareholder-facing investor and board structures. Linked evidence
|
Market Conduct
?
Pricing fairness, switching costs, lock-in, and rent extraction.
|
1 / 5 |
A federal court found Google liable for maintaining monopoly power in general search and text advertising markets. Linked evidence
|
Product Integrity
?
Preservation of quality rather than degradation for monetization.
|
3 / 5 |
Alphabet is a publicly traded corporation governed through shareholder-facing investor and board structures. Linked evidence
|
Scale Integrity
?
Whether growth improves or degrades fairness and accountability.
|
2 / 5 |
Alphabet is a publicly traded corporation governed through shareholder-facing investor and board structures. Linked evidence
|
Penalties
| Penalty | Applied | Why this penalty |
|---|---|---|
Policy Capture
?
Private-interest attempts to bend law, regulation, subsidies, taxes,
enforcement, trade, labor, safety, competition, environmental,
healthcare, housing, surveillance, civil-liberties, or consumer policy
against workers, customers, citizens, affected communities, or
ecological life. Public-interest advocacy is not penalized merely
because it is lobbying. Range: -15 to 0.
|
-8 |
OpenLobby records GOOGLE CLIENT SERVICES lobbying on copyright / patents / trademarks, technology, law enforcement, labor, science / technology, consumer product safety with about $1.6M in… Linked evidence
|
Youth Capture
?
Manipulative youth-directed marketing, youth-data or attention
monetization, collectible/add-on traps, parasocial or identity capture,
surprise mechanics, or treating young people as lower-disclosure
consumers. Making useful toys or welcoming children is not itself
penalized. Range: -5 to 0.
|
-5 |
The FTC and New York Attorney General alleged that Google and YouTube illegally collected personal information from viewers of child-directed YouTube channels without parental notice or consent, resulting in a $170 million settlement under COPPA. Linked evidence
|
Accountability Opacity
?
Material opacity, reputation laundering, or hidden accountability
structures that prevent public accountability. Range: -2 to 0.
|
-2 |
Google's ad and ranking systems create material opacity for users, advertisers, publishers, and affected markets. Linked evidence
|
Identity Capture
?
Customer pressure, employee pressure, and pervasive identity saturation.
Range: -3 to 0.
|
-3 |
Google account, search, browser, advertising, maps, mail, and video services create pervasive customer identity pressure across public and private activity. Linked evidence
|
Surveillance Capture
?
Invasive surveillance, unreasonably non-optional tracking, facial
recognition, biometric identification, or AI behavior scanning of
customers, workers, bystanders, or the public. Range: -5 to 0.
|
-4 |
Google account, search, browser, maps, mail, video, advertising, and ad-tech systems create pervasive cross-context tracking and behavioral advertising infrastructure, describes conduct considered under Surveillance Capture. Linked evidence
|
Ideological Disavowal
?
Concealed ideology presented as neutrality, expertise, professional
necessity, public-service administration, market inevitability, or
non-ideological common sense while exercising power. Range: -3 to 0.
|
-3 |
Alphabet / Google's public framing is assessed as ideological-disavowal evidence because Alphabet / Google combines major gatekeeping, coercive, or infrastructural power with pronounced… Linked evidence
|
Bonus Credits
No bonus credits applied in this version.
Confidence Basis
Confidence Basis
Confidence is computed from the evidence trail and review state, not typed into the profile by hand.
High 83/100
15 verified linked claims 15 direct axis claims 0 disputed claims 15/15 components covered
This confidence label measures the source-backed evidence trail. AI-scaffolded scores remain tentative until human review.
Claim confidence 14/20
15 verified linked claims
Source quality 17/18
Best source per verified claim, weighted by institutional reliability
Direct axis-specific claims 14/18
15 direct claims across 15 active components
Dispute load 12/12
0 disputed claims on this entity
Recency 10/10
Newest accepted timestamp: May 13, 2026
Reviewer status 7/12
Human-reviewed components score higher than AI scaffolding
Component coverage 10/10
15/15 evidence-bearing components have direct support
Evidence State
Evidence State
Claims and Sources
Claims are the evidence record. Each claim needs a source link, axis category, status, confidence level, and timestamp before it can support a score.
* Tentative scaffolding score. Not human-checked or final.1Alphabet is a publicly traded corporation governed through shareholder-facing investor and board structures.
- Alphabet investor relationsOfficial self-description · 68%
2A federal court found Google liable for maintaining monopoly power in general search and text advertising markets.
- DOJ Google search antitrust casePrimary public record · 100%
3Alphabet’s annual report and investor structure show a public corporation controlled through board and shareholder channels, not by search users, creators, advertisers, workers, or affected communities.
- Alphabet 2024 annual reportPrimary institutional record · 90%
- Google productsOfficial self-description · 68%
- DOJ Google search antitrust casePrimary public record · 100%
- DOJ Google ad tech antitrust casePrimary public record · 100%
4Alphabet’s annual report identifies Google Services, including advertising-driven products, as a core business segment, so user attention and data-mediated advertising remain central to surplus extraction.
- Alphabet 2024 annual reportPrimary institutional record · 90%
- Google productsOfficial self-description · 68%
- DOJ Google search antitrust casePrimary public record · 100%
- DOJ Google ad tech antitrust casePrimary public record · 100%
5Alphabet’s public-company and platform structure gives employees benefits and resources but not binding control over search, ad, AI, or platform governance decisions.
- Alphabet 2024 annual reportPrimary institutional record · 90%
- Google productsOfficial self-description · 68%
- DOJ Google search antitrust casePrimary public record · 100%
- DOJ Google ad tech antitrust casePrimary public record · 100%
6Google provides many no-price services with real access value, but the advertising and account ecosystem does not create durable solidarity for people outside employment or purchasing power.
- Alphabet 2024 annual reportPrimary institutional record · 90%
- Google productsOfficial self-description · 68%
- DOJ Google search antitrust casePrimary public record · 100%
- DOJ Google ad tech antitrust casePrimary public record · 100%
7Alphabet’s ad-funded infrastructure offers many services without direct fees, but the model shifts costs into data extraction, publisher dependence, advertiser dependence, and affected market power.
- Alphabet 2024 annual reportPrimary institutional record · 90%
- Google productsOfficial self-description · 68%
- DOJ Google search antitrust casePrimary public record · 100%
- DOJ Google ad tech antitrust casePrimary public record · 100%
8Alphabet’s products include search, Android, Chrome, Gmail, Maps, YouTube, Cloud, and AI systems with real utility, while DOJ search and ad-tech cases show product value is compromised by gatekeeping power.
- Alphabet 2024 annual reportPrimary institutional record · 90%
- Google productsOfficial self-description · 68%
- DOJ Google search antitrust casePrimary public record · 100%
- DOJ Google ad tech antitrust casePrimary public record · 100%
9Alphabet reports products serving billions of users and major global advertising infrastructure, so scale magnifies gatekeeping, opacity, and dependency even where products remain useful.
- Alphabet 2024 annual reportPrimary institutional record · 90%
- Google productsOfficial self-description · 68%
- DOJ Google search antitrust casePrimary public record · 100%
- DOJ Google ad tech antitrust casePrimary public record · 100%
10Google's ad and ranking systems create material opacity for users, advertisers, publishers, and affected markets.
- DOJ Google ad tech antitrust casePrimary public record · 100%
11Google account, search, browser, advertising, maps, mail, and video services create pervasive customer identity pressure across public and private activity.
- Google Account overviewGeneral web source · 58%
- Google productsOfficial self-description · 68%
12Google account, search, browser, maps, mail, video, advertising, and ad-tech systems create pervasive cross-context tracking and behavioral advertising infrastructure, describes conduct considered under Surveillance Capture.
- Google Account overviewGeneral web source · 58%
- Google productsOfficial self-description · 68%
- DOJ Google ad tech antitrust casePrimary public record · 100%
13The FTC and New York Attorney General alleged that Google and YouTube illegally collected personal information from viewers of child-directed YouTube channels without parental notice or consent, resulting in a $170 million settlement under COPPA.
- FTC: Google and YouTube COPPA settlementPrimary public record · 100%
- FTC: Google Play children in-app purchase settlementPrimary public record · 100%
14Alphabet / Google's public framing is assessed as ideological-disavowal evidence because Alphabet / Google combines major gatekeeping, coercive, or infrastructural power with pronounced claims of neutrality, administrative necessity, national legitimacy, safety, objectivity, or professional expertise.
- Alphabet / Google official siteGeneral web source · 58%
- DOJ Google search antitrust casePrimary public record · 100%
- DOJ Google ad tech antitrust casePrimary public record · 100%
15OpenLobby records GOOGLE CLIENT SERVICES lobbying on copyright / patents / trademarks, technology, law enforcement, labor, science / technology, consumer product safety with about $1.6M in spending across 36 filings; the reviewed filings document private institutional lobbying over public rules rather than a public-interest advocacy role.
- OpenLobby — GOOGLE CLIENT SERVICES lobbying profileGeneral web source · 58%
16Alphabet / Google receives the Private Government badge because it combines large-scale private rule-setting over customers, workers, users, members, or counterparties with OpenLobby-documented lobbying of about $1.6M on public policy issues.
- OpenLobby — GOOGLE CLIENT SERVICES lobbying profileGeneral web source · 58%
Help Improve This Profile
Submit source-backed evidence or challenge a specific claim, source, axis value, or calculation below.
How This Page Is Maintained
Evidence comes in through contributors, is checked by verifiers, and is synthesized by reviewers. Founder authority remains narrow and visible; scores recalculate when verified claims or the rubric change.
Civic Note
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Audit Log
Recent public changes for this company or group. The full audit log is part of the Transparency record.
Added source-backed Youth Capture penalty -5 based on evidence specific to youth data, child-directed marketing, loot-box/gambling-like monetization, or youth-culture manipulation.
Added tentative AI-generated Toxic Products penalty 0 and directory value for current toxic, addictive, pesticide, livestock, chemical, or consumer-safety product exposure.
Published tentative AI-generated scaffolding score 17 for initial human review under gcd-rubric-v1.