MEXICO CITY — When Wikileaks founder Julian Assange told an open government conference Thursday that “Google was now Hillary’s secret weapon,” he provided ample fertilizer for a year’s worth of conspiracy theories in this overheated election season.

Assange was referring to The Groundwork, a stealthy startup funded by Google Chairman Eric Schmidt that’s providing consulting services to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s campaign. According to Quartz, The Groundwork is building digital infrastructure like the Obama campaign did in 2012, laying “the groundwork’ for personalized, data-driven electioneering in 2016. MORE