Google has been accused of “attempting to influence” the upcoming US Presidential election, as a new study has claimed that the internet giants are “burying” Donald Trump content in their search results.
In a study carried out by the Media Research Center, they claimed Google is favouring Vice President Kamala Harris in search results over Donald Trump, promoting left leaning articles ahead of the former President’s campaign websites.
The study argues that this “bias” could “influence voters”, as an increasing number of Americans rely on search engines for their political news.
In new data carried out ahead of the looming November election, it has found that around eight per cent of American voters are still undecided on who to vote for.
Google have been warned to ‘lawyer up’ after allegedly pushing Kamala Harris content above Donald Trump’s
Reuters
Speaking to GB News, Vice President of the Media Research Center Dan Schneider said their findings were “astonishing”, and stressed that over half of Americans still acquire their news through search engines, meaning Google holds a “huge impact” on the election.
Schneider explained: “We do have a big election coming up here in the United States. About eight per cent of American voters still are undecided which way they will go, and they are currently trying to acquire information to inform their decision.
“66 per cent of Americans still get their news through search engines, primarily Google – and with eight per cent of Americans still undecided, Google is going to have a huge impact on how people vote.”
Recalling the tech company’s impact on previous elections, Schneider claimed that Google helped to sway “anywhere from six to eight million votes”, because of how they “manipulate information and news” for voters.
A new study has claimed that Google is ‘attempting to influence the election’ by ‘burying Donald Trump’ search results
Reuters
Schneider told GB News: “Our latest study shows just how that is being accomplished, by pointing people in the direction of the New York Times or Politico or Axios, these media outlets in America that are pretty hard left, to influence people’s decision making.”
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Admitting his own observations of searching for both Harris and Trump on Google, host Martin Daubney claimed his search for information, particularly on polling, was showing “more figures in Kamala Harris’s favour” than that of Donald Trump.
Schneider was not surprised by Martin’s remarks, responding: “The social science on this is very clear – we’ve been doing these studies for over a year now, and there’s been a shift at Google over a year in America.
“When you try to find any campaign websites for any of the Republicans seeking the nomination, you would not get any of the 16 candidates websites except for a guy named Willard who never was polling above one per cent, whereas Joe Biden and then later Kamala Harris, their websites were the number one search result.
“Google was completely erasing the Republican campaign websites. Google now is finally producing Donald Trump’s campaign website, albeit still in a lower rank than than Kamala Harris’s.”
Dan Schneider warned Google that they are ‘in clear violation of US federal law’
GB News
When asked by Martin what the consequences for Google may be if the claims are found to be true, Schneider warned the company should “lawyer up” as he believes they are “clearly in violation of US federal law”.
Schneider said: “In our American electoral system and our campaign finance laws, when a company puts forth resources to influence, that company is required under law to file with our Federal Election Commission.
“But Google has refused to do that. Google claims that it’s not trying to interfere in elections or trying to change the impact of it. Of course, that’s false.
“I frankly think they should lawyer up because I think they’re clearly in violation of US federal law.”