Trump win ‘dismayed’ top brass at Google

FAR-RIGHT news website Breitbart on Wednesday posted a leaked video showing Google executives sharing with employees how troubled they were by the election of US President Donald Trump.

The leak of the hour-long video from a TGIF (Thank God It’s Friday) town hallstyle gathering shortly after Trump won office in November of 2016 came as the president and his allies accuse the leading search engine of bias against politically conservative viewpoints.

“I know this is probably not the most joyous TGIF we have had,” Google cofounder Sergey Brin said in the video.

“As an immigrant and a refugee, I certainly find this election deeply offensive. I know many of you do, too.”

Brin said most people at the meeting were upset and saddened by an election outcome that indicated many people in the US don’t share the values of those at Google when it came to immigrants, minorities, women, and the world being left to children.

Google chief executive Sundar Pichai also addressed the gathering, saying that while the election was rife with rhetoric and division, people should have faith in the democratic process.

Election outcome

Pichai said he thought one of the reasons for the election outcome was that “people don’t feel heard on either side.”

“There is a lot of fear. It is important to reach out.”

Reacting to the leaked video, Google said that for more than 20 years employees have been free to express personal viewpoints at allhands get-togethers such as the one in the video.

“Nothing was said in that meeting, or any other meeting, to suggest that any political bias ever influences the way we build or operate our products,” Google said in response to a question.

Google and other major US internet firms are facing intense scrutiny for allowing the propagation of misinformation and hate speech, and allegations of political bias from the president and some Republican lawmakers.

In a series of recent tweets, Trump assailed Google for what he termed “rigged” results that hide news from conservative outlets and promote content from what he called “left-wing” media.