Google interfered 41 times for past 16 years in US elections: Study
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Google responds by insisting on its "clear business incentive" to keep both parties happy and that safeguards ensure non-biased and precise search results.
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The recently opened Google building is seen in New York, on Monday, Feb. 26, 2024. (AP)
A recent study from the Media Research Center (MRC), as reported by Fox News, demonstrates that Google has "interfered" with elections in the United States a whopping 41 times over the last 16 years.
In a summary of the study, MRC Free Speech America Vice President Dan Schneider and editor Gabriela Pariseau wrote: "MRC researchers have found 41 times where Google interfered in elections over the last 16 years, and its impact has surged dramatically, making it evermore harmful to democracy. In every case, Google harmed the candidates – regardless of party – who threatened its left-wing candidate of choice".
They added: "From the mouths of Google executives, the tech giant let slip what was never meant to be made public: That Google uses its "great strength and resources and reach" to advance its leftist values".
According to the joint summary, the company's "outsized influence on information technology, the body politic, and American elections became evident in 2008. After failing to prevent then-candidate for president Donald Trump from being inaugurated following the 2016 election, Google has since made clear to any discerning observer that it has been — and will continue — interfering in America’s elections."
Google responded by insisting on its "clear business incentive" to keep both parties happy and that safeguards ensure non-biased and precise search results.
To validate its claims, MRC Free Speech America, a division of the Center, states that the most recent example was recorded after Google's artificial intelligence Gemini "refused to answer questions damaging" to current US President Joe Biden.
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From 2008 through February 2024, "Google has utilized its power to help push to electoral victory the most liberal candidates, regardless of party, while targeting their opponents for censorship", says the study.
Other cited examples include seeming to favor Barack Obama over John McCain in 2008, favoring Obama over Mitt Romney in 2012, using its algorithm to exclude autofill results that potentially hurt Hilly Clinton in 2016, "not doing the same for then-candidates Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders," and working to help likely pro-Clinton Latino voters go to the polls that same year.
The study also found that Google was suppressing news critical of Biden and his administration, concealing most Republican campaign websites for the 12 competitive Senate races in 2022, and aiding Biden by "burying in its search results the campaign websites of every one of his significant opponents" in 2024.
The joint-written summary added that "Google aided those who most closely aligned with its leftist values from election cycle to election cycle since as far back as the 2008 presidential election. Meanwhile, it targeted for censorship those candidates who posed the most serious threat".
"... meddling has turned into an organizational mission to ensure that its candidates win on election day".
Reading 'the terms of service' for a reason
Citing AllSides and Dr. Robert Epstein, who conducted further research which discovered "Google’s search algorithm likely shifted at least 2.6 million votes to Hillary Clinton" in 2016 and that "Google’s results and get-out-the-vote reminders favored Democrats and shifted the 2020 election results by at least 6 million votes."
In light of both studies, a Google spokesperson told Fox News Digital: "There is absolutely nothing new here - just a recycled list of baseless, inaccurate complaints that have been debunked by third parties and many that failed in the courts."
"Politicians on the left have a long history of making similar claims too. We have a clear business incentive to keep everyone using our products, so we have no desire to make them biased or inaccurate and have safeguards in place to ensure this. Numerous conservatives have been particularly successful in using our platforms to spread their message to a wide audience,"
MRC Free Speech America suggested that House Speaker Mike Johnson should "direct relevant committees and committee chairmen to investigate Google for abridging people’s constitutional rights" by "coordinating with government to violate freedom of speech," "interfering in elections by making unreported in-kind contributions," and for "defrauding its users by failing to meet its Terms of Service."
They recommended state legislatures to resolve the matter of whether Google is a common carrier and urged Americans to stop using Google, particularly its search engine.
"From our research, alternatives appear to produce better, less biased results," they noted.
MRC founder and president Brent Bozell urged Congress to act on the matter, while relaying to Fox News Digital that "No organization has more control over information than Google, and they have repeatedly used that power to manipulate the public to vote for the most left-wing candidates in every major election since 2008. It’s un-American to attempt to manipulate elections this way. It’s time Congress acts to shut down this massive election interference scheme".
