'We never rank search results to manipulate political sentiment': Google responds to Trump's claim that the company is 'suppressing the voices of conservatives and hiding information'
- President Trump accused Google of "silencing the voices of conservatives and hiding information and news that is good" in a series of tweets Tuesday morning.
- Google issued a statement in response, saying that "search is not used to set a political agenda and we don't bias our results toward any political ideology."
- Trump also said that his issues with Google "will be addressed," but he hasn't yet expanded on that.
After President Trump accused Google of "silencing the voices of conservatives and hiding information and news that is good" in a series of tweets Tuesday morning, Google has issued a statement in response denying the accusations.
"Search is not used to set a political agenda, and we don't bias our results toward any political ideology," Google said in a statement sent to Business Insider.
Trump, appearing to reference an unscientific study from a conservative opinion blog, claimed that 96% of search results about him are "from National Left-Wing media," calling it a "very serious situation" that "will be addressed."
Here's Trump's tweet in full:
"Google search results for 'Trump News' shows only the viewing/reporting of Fake New 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 & Fair Media is shut out. Illegal? 96% of results on 'Trump News' are from National Left-Wing Media, very dangerous. Google & others are suppressing voices of Conservatives and hiding information and news that is good. They are controlling what we can & cannot see. This is a very serious situation-will be addressed!"
The figure of 96% appeared to come from PJMedia, a conservative opinion blog that conducted an unscientific study that concluded that the majority of Trump-related search results are from what PJMedia considers left-wing publications.
Here is Google's full statement: