Donald Trump has accused Google of suppressing positive news stories about himself and the Republicans.
The US president took to Twitter, claiming that results on the search engine are “rigged” to hide positive news about him and prioritising articles from “fake new media”.
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…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 28, 2018
….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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 28, 2018
“Google and others are suppressing voices of Conservatives and hiding information and news that is good,” Mr Trump wrote.
“They are controlling what we can and cannot see.
“This is a very serious situation – will be addressed!”
Google uses an algorithm to curate results on its website. Although the exact formula is a secret, algorithms use a variety of factors such as outlet reputation and keywords to measure and rank the order of results.
Mr Trump’s comments are the latest in a string of accusations about online censorship of right wing voices.
“Social Media Giants are silencing millions of people,” the president claimed earlier this month.
Social Media Giants are silencing millions of people. Can’t do this even if it means we must continue to hear Fake News like CNN, whose ratings have suffered gravely. People have to figure out what is real, and what is not, without censorship!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 24, 2018
In July, the president claimed that Twitter was shadow banning prominent Republicans – a way of reducing a person’s online visibility to the public without blocking them – which Twitter denied.
“We will look into this discriminatory and illegal practice at once!” Mr Trump said at the time.