Google results ‘rigged,’ Trump claims
WASHINGTON • President Donald Trump lashed out at U.S. tech companies Tuesday, accusing Google and others of suppressing conservative voices and “hiding information” and good news. He cited no evidence for the claim, which echoes both his own attacks on the press and a conservative talking point.
Google, operator of the world’s most popular search engine, responded by saying: “We never rank search results to manipulate political sentiment.”
Trump tweeted before dawn: “This is a very serious situation-will be addressed!” Hours later, Larry Kudlow, the president’s top economic adviser, said the White House is “taking a look” at whether Google searches should be subject to some government regulation.
Trump has made similar complaints before, but he carried it a step further Tuesday.
“Google search results for ‘Trump News’ shows only the viewing/reporting of Fake New Media. In other words, they have it RIGGED, for me & others, so that almost all stories & news is BAD. Fake CNN is prominent. Republican/Conservative & Fair Media is shut out. Illegal?”
He added, without offering evidence, that “96% of results on “Trump News” are from National Left-Wing Media, very dangerous.”
A query Tuesday morning several hours after the president tweeted showed stories from CNN, ABC News, Fox News and the MarketWatch business site, among others. A similar search later in the day for “Trump” had Fox News, the president’s favoured cable network, among the top results.
Trump tweeted that Google and others “are controlling what we can & cannot see.”
In response, Google said its goal is to make sure users of its search engine get the most relevant answers to their queries quickly.
“Search is not used to set a political agenda and we don’t bias our results toward any political ideology,” the California-based company said. “We continually work to improve Google Search and we never rank search results to manipulate political sentiment.”
Trump and some supporters have long accused Silicon Valley companies of being biased against them. But, while some company executives may lean liberal, they have long asserted that their products are without political bias, and indeed no such bias has been proven.
The issue is also of concern on Capitol Hill, where the House Energy and Commerce Committee, chaired by Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., recently announced that Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey will testify before the panel on Sept. 5 about the platform’s algorithms and content monitoring.