In a series of Tweets Tuesday, President Trump accused Google of rigging search results for news about him and wrote it “will be addressed.”
The President claimed, without citing examples, that 96 percent of Google’s news search results for “Trump news” comes from “national left-wing media.”
A quick search by WRAL Techwire showed that Fox news, which certainly cannot be labeled “left-wing media” is the second item when searching for Trump news.
Trump, however, tweeted that “Google search results for “Trump News” shows only the viewing/reporting of Fake News Media. In other words, they have it RIGGED, for me & others so that almost all stories & news is BAD. Fake CNN is prominent. Republican/Conservative and Fair Media is shut out. Illegal?”
Trump said it was “very dangerous” and a “serious situation–will be addressed.”
CNN, the Washington Post, The New York Times and other media the President has labeled “fake news” are prominent in Trump news search results, as they are on almost any news topic.
MarketWatch reports the origin of Trump’s complaint was a recent article on a rightwing blog, PJ Media, “96 Percent of Google Search Results for ‘Trump News’ are from Liberal Media Outlets.” Other conservative publications, including Breitbart, circulated the article.
Google says it does not manipulate results and told PJ Media it uses more than 200 signals, such as freshness, in its search results.
The Associated Press reports that Google responded to Trump’s complaints Tuesday, saying its search is not used to set a political agenda and the results are not biased toward any political ideology.
Google said that when users search for content, “our goal is to make sure they receive the most relevant answers in a matter of seconds.”
It is unclear what Trump has in mind, since the First Amendment protects free speech.
