President Trump is, not surprisingly, getting a lot of flak for this. CNN, as objective as ever, has a risible article entitled, “Debunking Donald Trump’s latest conspiracy theory on Google.” In it, Chris Cillizza complains about the original article revealing Google’s search bias against Trump because in it, “every major mainstream media outlet in the country — from CNN to The New York Times to The Washington Post to Bloomberg is cast as left-leaning.”
Uh, yeah, Chris, because they are.
Anyway, on July 26, 2017, I posted this at Jihad Watch: “Google bows to Muslim pressure, changes search results to conceal criticism of Islam and jihad.” In it, I recounted Texas imam Omar Suleiman’s successful effort to compel Google to drop search results about Islam-related terms and topics that reflected negatively upon Islam. Turkey’s Anadolu Agency reported happily: “Google’s first page results for searches of terms such as ‘jihad’, ‘shariah’ and ‘taqiyya’ now return mostly reputable explanations of the Islamic concepts. Taqiyya, which describes the circumstances under which a Muslim can conceal their belief in the face of persecution, is the sole term to feature a questionable website on the first page of results.”
“Reputable”: i.e., acceptable under the Sharia prohibition on criticism of Islam. “Questionable website”: i.e., one that tells hard truths about Islam and jihad.
So this has been going on for quite some time, as it is virtually certain that Google wasn’t skewering the results only about Islam and jihad in July 2017. Only now is it being discovered by the general public. Trump is right to call the social media giants out. Let’s hope he can stop them before the make the First Amendment an entirely dead letter.
“Trump: Facebook, Twitter, Google are ‘treading on very, very troubled territory and they have to be careful,'” by Ryan Browne, CNBC, August 28, 2018:
President Donald Trump doubled down on threats against Facebook, Twitter and Google Tuesday afternoon, saying the social platforms are “treading on very, very troubled territory and they have to be careful.”
“Google has really taken advantage of a lot of people and I think that’s a very serious thing and it’s a very serious charge,” Trump told reporters after a meeting with the president of FIFA. “They better be careful because they can’t do that to people.”
A Twitter spokesperson, when asked to respond to Trump’s comments, pointed to previous statements and congressional testimony denying any form of conservative bias on the platform. A spokesperson for Facebook did not immediately return request for comment.
Trump earlier Tuesday accused Google of altering search results to prioritize negative coverage and left-leaning outlets and warned that the issue “will be addressed.”
Trump said in a tweet that the tech giant’s search engine had “rigged” news story results to show mostly “bad” stories about him and other conservatives.
“Google search results for ‘Trump News’ shows only the viewing/reporting of Fake New Media,” the president said.
“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.”
Trump added: “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!”
Around 11 a.m. ET, Trump deleted the original tweets and reposted practically identical language.
“When users type queries into the Google Search bar, our goal is to make sure they receive the most relevant answers in a matter of seconds,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement Tuesday.
“Search is not used to set a political agenda and we don’t bias our results toward any political ideology. Every year, we issue hundreds of improvements to our algorithms to ensure they surface high-quality content in response to users’ queries. We continually work to improve Google Search and we never rank search results to manipulate political sentiment.”…
gravenimage says
Trump hits Google for skewing results against him, Google denies — but evidence shows Trump is right
…………………
Yes–President Trump *is* right, and I am glad he is speaking out here.
mortimer says
Agree that Trump is right and I add “FINALLY, he seems to GET IT”. In the past, Donald Trump DID NOT GET IT that FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION must be defended.
That is … UNPOPULAR SPEECH must be defended, because as far as we know, it may be right.
When the freedom of expression is removed, then death and dumb we may be led as lambs to the slaughter.
gravenimage says
Agreed, Mortimer.
For instance, Trump seemed perplexed that Pamela Geller would put herself at risk to challenge Islam’s ban on criticizing the vicious “Prophet” of Islam.
I hope he understands now. In any case, this is a good sign from him.
mgoldberg says
Yes… it is. He has been in the firing line now and it’s a whole lot clearer just how rigged the games are that he is up against and also, others. Others whose ideas are purged from search engines and news sites.
Andy says
Trump Considers Regulating Google!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bZ3TICg_p4
Janet says
I agree Mortimer, Trump supported the Muslim Terrorist and bashed those who used Freedom of Speech to expose Islam and its prophet for what and who they really are in a Cartoon .
Trump proclaimed “Those who say Freedom of Speech these are foolish people”
America’s Christian Founders and Framers differ with Trump’s rational as so all who have served in this Greatr nation ,America’s Military to protect,defen d,preserved and secure our God given Rights and Freedom.
Janet says
I agree Mortimer, Trump supported the Muslim Terrorist and bashed those who used Freedom of Speech to expose Islam and its prophet for what and who they really are in a Cartoon .
Trump proclaimed “Those who say Freedom of Speech these are foolish people”
America’s Christian Founders and Framers differ with Trump’s rational as so all who have served in this Great nation ,America’s Military to protect,defen d,preserved and secure our God given Rights and Freedom.
Janet says
Freedom of Speech is when you praise Trump Fake News is when you expose him for what he is .
I shared from some Web Sights on Twitter and gave my opinion of FAKE Republican Trump and I posted comments that were made by Muslims boasting ” Women are for babies and boys are for pleasure ” and I got blocked now I can’t get back on though 12 hours were over days ago….. I’m still blocked .
Janet says
Freedom of Speech is when you praise Trump Fake News is when you expose him for what he is .
I shared from some Web Sights on Twitter and gave my opinion of FAKE Republican Trump and I posted comments that were made by Muslims boasting ” Women are for babies and boys are for pleasure ” and I got blocked now I can’t get back on though 12 hours were over days ago….. I’m still blocked .
Andy says
Trump’s Approval INCREASES After Media Bombardment!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KnP2ddivw4
Janet says
Money buys a lot of things and a lot of people So I ask How are We The People going to know that Trump did not AGAIN buy those numbers with FAKE people like he claimed were his supporters during the campaign?
Andy says
Globalists Attack Trump
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1esnltlqydk
underbed cat says
What I heard President Trump say is that he had received many complaints from citizens who had searched for conservative sites that brought up negative results. it rings true with me since I experienced these strange inaccurate results, not the site I can normally reach. I have had similar results last couple of days. I did not hear him say it was all about him, although nearly every result in the first search were critical stories picking apart his achievements, Fox News has been no exception with many commentators highly critical of President Trump in a sly way….. They constantly have negative stories….one about North Korea, next the economy might crash, then having tech people claiming math equations have not been changed…. ( Must be the Russians right?) nothing to see here, no politics involved….so maybe with a click of a switch techies can get their politics out and deny it afterwards.. add to that advertisers that get a negative drama in the ads…or stories about previous democratic Presidents they glorify. So what is new……but they may hit the wall because the “deplorable, middle America is a lot smarter than they think and detect it,,,,don’t think Trump is paying for his support, but his critics may be collecting from the like minded, here is some news many conservatives are not ignorant about sharia law and who wants information silenced.
John Forbes says
Trump is totally right & he needs to call the Leftist in California out for this!
Then he needs to go after C.A.I.R ( Muslim Brotherhood) & print their agenda & tactics & have pages of articles exposing ABROGATION ( WHERE THE LATEST FAR MORE VIOLENT VERSES TAKE PRECEDENCE OVER THE EARLIER VERSES) TAQUIYA- LYING TO KAFIRS- THAT IS US PEOPLE – IS TOTALLY ENCOURAGED & ACCEPTABLE TO PROPAGATE Islam & AL – Hestra ( TACTIC OF BEFRIENDING BUT INTENDING TO DESTROY ONCE THE NUMBERS & TIME IS RIGHT!)
NOT MADE UP PEOPLE – READ THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD AGENDA & LISTEN TO DR JAMES E MITCHELL – INTERROGATOR OF KSM ( KHALID SHEIKH MOHAMMED – THE MASTERMIND OF 9/11.
THE WESTERN POLITICIANS JUST ARE SO COWARDLY THAT THEY ARE SLEEPWALKING US TO DEFEAT!
mortimer says
A congressional committee with a broad mandate should start examining systemic bias and censorship in the American tech companies.
It stinks to high heaven that ONE POINT OF VIEW is permitted by these giants and all other views are persecuted.
This is an ABUSE OF HUMAN RIGHTS. The conservative people of America must start their own communication platforms. The time is ripe.
gravenimage says
I wish I could share your confidence that Congress is up to this task, Mortimer.
marc says
google has done a clean up here…
https://www.google.ca/search?q=burma+buddhist+girl+raped
comes up with stories of muslim girls raped, but no Buddhist, but I do remember lots of cases, where are they now?
something I found on https://duckduckgo.com/?q=burma+buddhist+girl+raped&t=hg&ia=web
https://www.scribd.com/doc/175530387/RAPE-of-BURMESE-BUDDHIST-WOMEN
The other search engines feed off google so they also get skewed,
If Trump can really fix this, the rest will follow.
gravenimage says
+1
Brian hoff says
You are wrong google on the first page list story about Buddhist girls bring rape which is doubtful being true as the Buna military make up fake new.
gravenimage says
What tripe. The Rohingya Muslims are waging a Jihad against the Burmese.
marc says
https://www.jihadwatch.org/search_gcse?q=burma%20rape
Brian Hoff proves a point, with a slight alteration of an algorithm at google, history changed.
Marco says
What?
James Lincoln says
What we are already witnessing is the initial enforcement of sharia law, not by the government – as in the UK – but by the mainstream media, social tech media companies, credit card companies, etc.
Janet says
Thank Fake Republican Trump he praised muslims praising them having a great religion and they are wonderful… then why wouldn’t he muslims help make him rich especially Saudi muslims .
Trump sold 49th floor of TRUMP TOWER to Saudi muslims 6/2001 and in 9/2001 Saudi muslims attacked America ..TRump boasted he knew they were going to do it…How did he know?
Fake Republican Trump also said that he would not ban Rich Muslims they would be welcome in US No surprise there they put money in his pockets …and Rich Muslims FUND Muslim Terrorist .
Wellington says
Not all can be done at once, Janet. Don’t forget that in March of 2016 Trump said, and I quote, “I think Islam hates us.” This is the main reason why silly federal judges at the District level nixed a very mild travel ban by Trump because of comments like this by The Donald.
We are only in the very early stages still of exposing Islam for the worst religion of all time. Trump is but a first step in this process. But he is a first step, as opposed to someone like Obama who was about 14 steps backwards. Be patient—and understanding. Getting rid of Islam will take time since it is the longest-lived and best disguised evil in the history of mankind.
Think of it this way: Who in power across the world is a greater force for freedom than is Trump right now? Oh yeah, be patient.
Andy says
The Virtue of Patience
https://www.christianitytoday.com/biblestudies/articles/spiritualformation/virtue-of-patience.html
James Lincoln says
Wellington,
You are absolutely correct, learning the truth about Islam takes time and effort…
The United States has some time unlike most of Western Europe. We should, however, make the very most of the time that we have.
Knowing the truth about Islam is very disconcerting. It is also very necessary.
It is likely that even most Jihad Watch readers, at one time, drank the Kool-Aid from the mainstream media – like a mind numbing tonic.
I know, a few years ago when I was working 60 hour weeks, I had little time for independent research regarding Islam. At that time I also drank the Kool-Aid.
After about three years of extensive research I will never again will I trust the mainstream media in regards to Islam. I cannot thank evidence-based experts like Robert Spencer enough.
Andy says
James, I’m glad you got off that Kool Aid, I stopped drinking the stuff back in the late 90’s!
Stop Drinking The Kool-aid, Folks!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFqEgCIKErU
gravenimage says
Agreed, Wellington. Trump is far from perfect, but it is also clear that we could have done much, much worse.
Wakeup says
I have always said that the first amendment guaranteed freedom of speech on Google and thus for all. The implementation of the constitution is therefore vital for all humanity. Go for it Mr Trump they are denying US citizens of their constitutional rights.
eduardo odraude says
A private company has the right to control what content it shows. A legal question however may arise if it can be convincingly argued in court that Google functions as a monopoly. No one cares if a particular magazine prints a “biased” content, because there are millions of magazines; magazines can print what they want. But Google is such a behemoth that an anti-trust suit could perhaps be brought against it to break it into smaller parts. I’d like to see that.
gravenimage says
It is more complicated since these are private companies. But if it shows that they consistently discriminate against certain people when they are supposed to be non-political that may be an issue. Certainly, it becoming widely known may be an embarrassment for them.
No Muzzies Here says
Google is now Sharia compliant. Google knows who our new masters are, and is willingly submitting to their dictates.
There is absolutely NO doubt that Google biases search results. Google search is used to set a political agenda, and they do bias their results towards a liberal political ideology. Their statements to the contrary are lies.
Renate says
I would believe the President before I’d believe Google.
SAE says
Google is definitely Left-leaning ..when searching for facts, one must first scroll down NUMEROUS pages before finding anything that even remotely confirms conservative truth. Enlisting Google is just like using Snopes or other, so called, “fact-checking” sites. As intended, it is no wonder that there are so many misinformed, and rebellious people considering our slanted, OWO dominant sources of misinformation.
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2018/07/robert-spencer-in-frontpage-steven-brills-newsguard-and-the-fact-checking-scam
Horseman says
It’s time for conservative patriots to stop using leftist social media. Is seeing your kids/grandkids pictures online really that important!
marc says
Problem is, the other (conservative friendly) forums are just echo chambers. and
Family members and friends will never follow me to a forum like Gab, due to neo nazi style holocaust denial and blatant racism.
gravenimage says
True.
Marco says
I told many many people to google search “Tuck Frump and Cuck Flinton” in the summer of 2016. You guessed it….. Huge number of pages about “tucking” Trump and nothing about Clinton. It was amazing. Haven’t tried it lately, but I’m sure the wonderfully tolerant no-lable libs at google have everything fixed up.
Z says
Google does mess with search when politics come in. You know how Hillary Clinton’s health has begun to fail her? When I tried to look up more, google tried to change it to Hillary Clinton’s Healthcare
Walter Sieruk says
It very much seems that the chiefs of large corporations as Google, Facebook, Twitter etc,and others of the Left wing just don’t understand the basic reality of things. They obvious misinterpret and misunderstand almost everything. For example, they fail understand and comprehend that President Trump is not for the construction of a tall strong border wall between The USA and Mexico because he might have a low view of Mexicans. He doesn’t have a low view of them. This border wall need to be built for the safe security of the the American people To explain this in another way, that it isn’t the job of President Trump to have a PC policy of immigration that would make those on the Left happy. It’s the job and duty of President Trump to ensure the safety and protection of the American citizens.
David Darman says
RS’s support for Trump’s attack on a free press is distressing to me. I guess he identifies with Trump inasmuch as he, RS, continually fights with unfair and uninformed criticisms from the MSM.
Nevertheless, this is not a reason to censor any of the MSM. Google, Facebook, Fox, the NYT and any other publication should be, and until now,is free to choose its political philosophy. Please don’t support censorship of the press.
David Darman says
RS’s support for Trump’s attack on a free press is distressing to me. I guess he identifies with Trump inasmuch as he, RS, continually is the subject of unfair and uninformed criticisms from the MSM.
Nevertheless, this is not a reason to censor any of the MSM. Google, Facebook, Fox, the NYT and any other publication should be, and until now, is free to choose its political philosophy. Please don’t support censorship of the press.
gravenimage says
The idea that having a problem with censorship is actually censorship is rather questionable.
David Darman says
Trump is not having a problem with censorship. He is having a problem with the point of view a publication seeks to advance by selecting to publish views that conform to the publication’s political philosophy. I have a problem with Trump seeking to force any MSM or social media to conform to rules that he favors including that it publish words more in his support than it currently chooses to do even if by algorithm. He can buy his own MSM or establish his own social media company if he doesn’t like the press he is getting.
gravenimage says
He is not forcing them to do anything–he is criticizing them for their bias.
The exercise of freedom of speech is not force.
David says
Yes, GravenImage, you nailed it. David Darman has missed the point.