Blackmail? try political suppression instead: there are many countries around the world that would shower google with money in exchange of information regarding dissidents.
Right now many countries in south america maintain armies of paid bloggers dedicated to smear the opposition 24/7 in social networks. This is incredibly labor-intensive, costly and not always that effective since even the dullest individual can see through the obvious propaganda copypasta of those hired guns.
If google wanted it could just charge those governments to shut the opposition from its services and give all their data from emails to files and social activity to the local police, which would put it to use right away with a devastating effect.
Right now many countries in south america maintain armies of paid bloggers dedicated to smear the opposition 24/7 in social networks. This is incredibly labor-intensive, costly and not always that effective since even the dullest individual can see through the obvious propaganda copypasta of those hired guns.
If google wanted it could just charge those governments to shut the opposition from its services and give all their data from emails to files and social activity to the local police, which would put it to use right away with a devastating effect.