With the presidential election only three months away, competition is intense. The new-candidate bump experienced by presumptive Democratic nominee Kamala Harris has been significant, while former President Donald Trump still shows strong in the polls, including in key battleground states. That’s why the question of Big Tech and Big Data interference is so crucial.
Mounting evidence suggests that Google and the digital titans are trying to bury news of the recent attempted assassination of Trump and actively promote Harris as the next POTUS.
Big Tech and Google Bias on Display?
As Elon Musk tweeted on July 31, “Just did a search for ‘Trump rally’ on Google and Kamala was the top result!” Numerous social media users reported similar situations, with Harris appearing to be promoted ahead of Trump in searches and recommendations. Google’s communication department denied any meddling on the company’s part and said outcomes like these are only a function of its “autocomplete” system and “automatically generated” results. In other words, the search giant claims its algorithms are to blame for any elevation of Harris, not someone’s thumb on the scale.
For his part, the former president recently encouraged his fans to hold Meta and Google accountable for blocking autocomplete searches about the attempted assassination on July 13. Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., also joined the criticism after photos and search results weren’t coming up, tweeting that “Big Tech is trying to interfere in the election AGAIN to help Kamala Harris.” Google claimed this was done to block results relating to “political violence." Meanwhile, Facebook's parent company said the iconic photo of Trump raising his fist defiantly after being shot had been marked “altered” and fake by mistake.
As David Inserra of the Cato Institute notes, this appears to be untrue:
“Older examples of political violence were autocompleted, including other presidential assassination attempts, the shootings of Rep. Gabby Giffords and Steve Scalise, and the attempted assassination of Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico in May 2024.”
‘We Are Wise to Them’
In a Truth Social post against Google and Meta, Trump said his supporters need to let the tech giants know they aren't fooled. He urged people to “let them know we are all wise to them, will be much tougher this time.” It’s worth recalling that Trump was banned from Facebook and Instagram (both owned by Meta) until January last year. He was given back his account on Twitter - now X - in 2022 after Musk bought the company, though Trump has not used the account except to post his mugshot after being arrested in Georgia. He has, however, regularly used Facebook and Instagram for his campaign.
Google processes an average of 8.5 billion searches per day and is enormously influential in shaping perceptions and fulfilling queries. The fact that Trump’s attempted assassination has been suppressed, whether intentionally or unintentionally, is only the tip of the iceberg. Searches for “President Donald Trump” autocompleted with “Donald Duck” or “Donald Regan,” and searches for news about Trump have regularly led to breaking news about Kamala Harris and her campaign, which Google claims is not deliberate.
“If Google’s search misfires were not mere mistakes, it is possible that some rogue engineers are altering search functionality without the approval of Google HQ. It is also possible that Google has implemented policies that directly or indirectly suppress various searches related to Donald Trump. No one other than Google knows exactly what is going on, and it is not a good look,” explains Cato's David Inserra.
Congressional Investigation of Google Bias Underway
In a statement to the Associated Press, Google said, "We're rolling out improvements to our Autocomplete systems to show more up-to-date predictions." No evidence exists to declare the company has done anything illegal – but it does raise questions about undue influence on the election.
Republican Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas is not satisfied with Google’s denials and has sent a letter to CEO Sundar Pichai demanding specific answers for the apparent bias at work in tilting the democratic process. Outlining a history of suppressing conservative views and right-leaning news stories, Marshall accused Google of having a “demonstrated history of manipulating results and discrimination against conservative ideology.” In demanding answers from Pichai, Marshall points out that “Google advertises itself as a search engine and aggregator, not a censor. If Google wishes to become to a publishing firm or editor, Congress could then regulate accordingly by removing the sacred Section 230 protections your firm has long used to silence conservative voices.”
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