Yeah, both directly and indirectly. Over time, "sponsored links" became more and more visually indistinguishable form organic results, and advertising incentives drove changes to the search algorithm.
Considering that I have reported a Google ad that I deem political and Google does not, that I'm going to appeal because as a eu citizen I can do so, that they'll most likely refuse the appeal and I'm ready to bring this to the relevant Italian authority, yes
A few days ago I read a newspaper article about Israel's government using ads to spread its propaganda. In eu, you have to follow some rules if you want to do so. These rules are not followed. Combined with the fact that ads might not be distinguished easily by average users, I feel that Google search results can be influenced by ads
I don't see why I should believe this.