Google has been involved in U.S. elections at least 41 times, according to a report from the Media Research Center.
The tech giant pushed its favored candidates while targeting their opponents. For example, in 2008, Google supported then-Senator Barack Obama while targeting his opponent, then-Senator Hillary Clinton.
At the time, pro-Clinton sites were censored.
During the 2016 election, Google removed autofill search results for inquiries reflecting negatively on Clinton in an attempt to give her an edge over Donald Trump.
MRC’s report adds that Google’s “meddling has turned into an organizational mission to ensure that its candidates win on election day.” It notes that Google’s own news site “completely eliminated all links to right-leaning media outlets while generously linking to left-leaning media outlets” for topics relating to Trump, Biden, and elections.
The report provides several recommendations for keeping Google in check moving forward, such as using “one of the many alternatives” for search engines. MRC also called upon House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to “direct relevant committees and committee chairmen to investigate Google for abridging people’s constitutional rights; for coordinating with government to violate freedom of speech; for interfering in elections by making unreported in-kind contributions; and for defrauding its users by failing to meet its Terms of Service.”
MRC President Brent Bozell said in a statement, “Google’s massive and deliberate efforts to interfere in U.S. elections for the past 16 years is unacceptable and the biggest threat to American democracy today.”
American Faith reported that Google search results exhibit bias against Biden’s challengers.
Will Hurd was the only Republican presidential candidate to appear on the first page of results when searching, “Republican presidential campaign websites.”
When searching for “presidential campaign websites,” RFK Jr.’s website was not on the first page of search results, despite being Biden’s top Democratic competitor.
“These results are so outrageous,” said Dan Schneider, Vice President of MRC Free Speech America. “Google is either the most incompetent search engine on the planet, or it’s intentional. This is not a coincidence.”
