According to a recent report by the Media Research Center (MRC), a conservative-leaning media watchdog, it has been suggested that Google’s influence may have impacted the outcome of recent presidential elections. The report claims that Google supported Democratic candidates in the last four election cycles and censored Republicans. However, Google has vehemently denied these allegations.
The MRC’s report alleges that Google manipulated its search results to favor Democratic candidates during the last four presidential elections. It also suggests that the tech giant used its powerful platform to censor information that would potentially harm these candidates’ chances of success.
The report by MRC cites 41 instances of Google’s alleged “election interference” since 2008. These instances involve the manipulation of search results to favor Democratic candidates and censor Republican ones. Google has been accused of using its dominant position in the digital space to sway public opinion and election results.
The MRC’s report asserts that Google has systematically targeted its opponents for censorship. This includes suspending accounts of writers who produced content critical of favored candidates, as well as suppressing search results that could potentially harm these candidates’ electoral prospects.
Google has categorically denied the allegations made in the MRC’s report. A spokesperson for the company stated that the claims were “baseless” and had been “debunked by third parties.” The spokesperson further asserted that Google has no incentive to bias its products and has safeguards in place to ensure objectivity and accuracy.
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and X, also weighed in on this issue. He posted on his social media platform that Google “interferes to help Democrats thousands of times every election season.” Musk attributed this to the “far-left political views” of Google’s censorship teams.
According to the MRC report, Google actively supported Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in 2008, when he faced off against Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination.
It is alleged that Google suppressed pro-Clinton search results and targeted accounts of writers who criticized Obama. Four years later, Google was accused of favoring Obama over Mitt Romney and refusing to rectify a “Google bomb” that smeared GOP primary candidate Rick Santorum.
The report also suggests that Google’s search algorithm helped Hillary Clinton secure votes in 2016. This claim is based on research by Dr. Robert Epstein, who testified to Congress that Google’s search algorithm “shifted at least 2.5 million votes” to Clinton.
Google’s Gemini AI image generator has also been criticized for producing “woke”-inspired and historically inaccurate images such as black Vikings, a female pope, and Native Americans among the Founding Fathers.
In the 2020 presidential election, the MRC report alleges that Google “targeted” Tulsi Gabbard, a Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii, by disabling her Ads account shortly after she became the most-searched candidate following the first Democratic Party primary debate.
Furthermore, the report accuses Google of suppressing news sources critical of Joe Biden during his presidential campaign. The MRC also believes that Google’s left-leaning bias influenced the 2022 Georgia Senate race between Republican Herschel Walker and Democrat Raphael Warnock.
