Former President Donald Trump has hinted at possible legal repercussions for Google, accusing the tech behemoth of meddling with the forthcoming election by skewing search results.
What Happened: Trump has alleged that Google was intentionally showcasing negative stories about him while highlighting positive ones about Vice President Kamala Harris.
Labeling this as an “unlawful activity,” Trump warned of potential prosecution should he emerge victorious in the November election.
The former president’s claims appear to be based on a recent study conducted by the Media Research Center, a right-wing watchdog group. The study infers that Google’s search results about political candidates are biased, favoring articles from liberal news outlets.
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In a post on Truth Social, Trump said, “It has been determined that Google has illegally used a system of only revealing and displaying bad stories about Donald J. Trump, some made up for this purpose while, at the same time, only revealing good stories about Comrade Kamala Harris.”
“This is an ILLEGAL ACTIVITY, and hopefully the Justice Department will criminally prosecute them for this blatant Interference of Elections. If not, and subject to the Laws of our Country, I will request their prosecution, at the maximum levels, when I win the Election, and become President of the United States!” Trump added in his post.
Responding to Trump’s allegations, Google reiterated its earlier statement regarding the Media Research Center report. According to the New York Times report, a company representative stated, “Both campaign websites consistently appear at the top of Search for relevant and common search queries.”
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The spokesperson further clarified that the report was predicated on a single, uncommon search term on a specific day, and even for that search, both candidates’ websites were among the top results on Google.
Why It Matters: This is not the first time that Google has been accused of political bias. The company has faced similar allegations in the past, with critics arguing that its algorithms favor certain political ideologies.
However, Google has consistently denied these claims, maintaining that its search algorithms are designed to provide the most relevant and useful results to users, irrespective of political affiliation.
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This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
