Close Menu
TechCentralTechCentral

    Subscribe to the newsletter

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    Facebook X (Twitter) YouTube LinkedIn
    WhatsApp Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentralTechCentral
    • News

      World Bank set to back South Africa’s big energy grid roll-out

      20 June 2025

      The algorithm will sing now: why musicians should be worried about AI

      20 June 2025

      Sita hits back at critics, promises faster, automated procurement

      20 June 2025

      The transatlantic race to create the first television

      20 June 2025

      Listed: All the MVNOs in South Africa – 2025 edition

      19 June 2025
    • World

      Watch | Starship rocket explodes in setback to Musk’s Mars mission

      19 June 2025

      Trump Mobile dials into politics, profit and patriarchy

      17 June 2025

      Samsung plots health data hub to link users and doctors in real time

      17 June 2025

      Beijing’s chip champions blacklisted by Taiwan

      16 June 2025

      China is behind in AI chips – but for how much longer?

      13 June 2025
    • In-depth

      Meta bets $72-billion on AI – and investors love it

      17 June 2025

      MultiChoice may unbundle SuperSport from DStv

      12 June 2025

      Grok promised bias-free chat. Then came the edits

      2 June 2025

      Digital fortress: We go inside JB5, Teraco’s giant new AI-ready data centre

      30 May 2025

      Sam Altman and Jony Ive’s big bet to out-Apple Apple

      22 May 2025
    • TCS

      TCS+ | AfriGIS’s Helen Hulett on how tech can help resolve South Africa’s water crisis

      18 June 2025

      TechCentral Nexus S0E2: South Africa’s digital battlefield

      16 June 2025

      TechCentral Nexus S0E1: Starlink, BEE and a new leader at Vodacom

      8 June 2025

      TCS+ | The future of mobile money, with MTN’s Kagiso Mothibi

      6 June 2025

      TCS+ | AI is more than hype: Workday execs unpack real human impact

      4 June 2025
    • Opinion

      South Africa pioneered drone laws a decade ago – now it must catch up

      17 June 2025

      AI and the future of ICT distribution

      16 June 2025

      Singapore soared – why can’t we? Lessons South Africa refuses to learn

      13 June 2025

      Beyond the box: why IT distribution depends on real partnerships

      2 June 2025

      South Africa’s next crisis? Being offline in an AI-driven world

      2 June 2025
    • Company Hubs
      • Africa Data Centres
      • AfriGIS
      • Altron Digital Business
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Altron Group
      • Arctic Wolf
      • AvertITD
      • Braintree
      • CallMiner
      • CYBER1 Solutions
      • Digicloud Africa
      • Digimune
      • Domains.co.za
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • Incredible Business
      • iONLINE
      • Iris Network Systems
      • LSD Open
      • NEC XON
      • Network Platforms
      • Next DLP
      • Ovations
      • Paracon
      • Paratus
      • Q-KON
      • SevenC
      • SkyWire
      • Solid8 Technologies
      • Telit Cinterion
      • Tenable
      • Vertiv
      • Videri Digital
      • Wipro
      • Workday
    • Sections
      • AI and machine learning
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud services
      • Contact centres and CX
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Electronics and hardware
      • Energy and sustainability
      • Enterprise software
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Lifestyle
      • Motoring
      • Public sector
      • Retail and e-commerce
      • Science
      • SMEs and start-ups
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Events
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home » World » Trump accuses Google of rigging search results against him

    Trump accuses Google of rigging search results against him

    By Agency Staff28 August 2018
    Twitter LinkedIn Facebook WhatsApp Email Telegram Copy Link
    News Alerts
    WhatsApp
    US President Donald Trump

    US President Donald Trump has accused Google of rigging its search results to give preference to negative stories about him, adding his voice to conservatives who accuse social media companies of favouring liberal viewpoints.

    “This is a very serious situation-will be addressed!” Trump warned in a tweet early Tuesday, in his latest claim of bias on the part of a news or social media company.

    “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,” added in a series of tweets on the subject.

    Search is not used to set a political agenda and we don’t bias our results toward any political ideology

    White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow, responding to a question about the tweets, said that the administration is going to do “investigations and analysis” into the issue but stressed they’re “just looking into it”.

    Google issued a statement saying its searches are designed to give users relevant answers.

    “Search is not used to set a political agenda and we don’t bias our results toward any political ideology,” the statement said. “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.”

    Google is not the first Silicon Valley stalwart to receive criticism from Trump. He has alleged the online merchant Amazon.com has a sweetheart deal with the US Postal Service and slammed founder Jeff Bezos’s ownership of what Trump calls “the Amazon Washington Post”.

    The most recent broadside follows the president’s 24 August claim that social media “giants” are “silencing millions of people”. Such accusations — along with assertions that the news media and special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia meddling probe are biased against him — have been a chief Trump talking point meant to appeal to the president’s base.

    Charges

    Charges that social media platforms have censored conservatives have risen as companies such as Facebook and Twitter try to curb the reach of conspiracy theorists, disinformation campaigns, foreign political meddling and abusive posters.

    Google News rankings have sometimes surfaced unconfirmed and erroneous reports in the early minutes of tragedies when there is little information to populate its searches. After the 1 October Las Vegas shooting, for instance, several accounts seemed to coordinate an effort to smear a man misidentified as the shooter with false claims about his political ties.

    Google has since tightened its requirements for inclusion in news rankings, purging outlets that “conceal their country of origin” and relying more on authoritative outlets, although the moves have led to charges from less established outlets of censorship. It currently says it ranks news based on “freshness” and “diversity” of the stories. Trump-favoured outlets such as Fox News routinely appear in results.

    Google CEO Sundar Pichai

    The White House isn’t alone in its criticism. House majority leader Kevin McCarthy on Sunday repeated his allegations of anti-conservative bias and censorship online and called for social media platforms to be more “open”.

    “If this is where two-thirds of Americans are getting their news, it’s not a fair process,” he said on Fox News. He said he wanted “transparency” but stopped short of calling for regulation.

    Eric Schmidt, Google parent Alphabet’s former CEO, supported Hillary Clinton against Trump during the last election. There have been unsubstantiated claims the company buried negative search results about her during the election.

    The government has little ability to dictate to publishers and curators what news to present despite the president’s occasional threats

    Google is due to face US lawmakers at a hearing on Russian election meddling on 5 September. The company intended to send senior vice president for global affairs Kent Walker to testify, but the panel’s chairman, senator Richard Burr, who wanted CEO Sundar Pichai, has rejected Walker. Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey are also said to be testifying.

    Dorsey is also due to testify that day at the house energy and commerce committee on content moderation and algorithms, where he will likely face similar questions about alleged bias against conservatives.

    Despite Trump’s comments, it’s unclear what he or the US congress could do. Internet platforms treasure an exemption from liability for the content their users post. Some top members of congress have suggested limiting the protection as a response to alleged bias and other misdeeds, although there have been few moves to do so since congress curbed the shield for some cases of sex trafficking earlier in the year.

    The government has little ability to dictate to publishers and curators what news to present despite the president’s occasional threats to use the power of the government to curb coverage he dislikes and his tendency to complain that news about him is overly negative.

    Trump has talked about expanding libel laws and mused about reinstating long-ended rules requiring equal time for opposing views, which didn’t apply to the internet. Neither has resulted in a serious policy push.

    Trump has not always been hostile to Google. In July, he lashed out at the European Union for imposing a record US$5-billion fine against Google over its mobile phone operating system, calling Google one of America’s “great companies”.  — Reported by Kathleen Hunter and Ben Brody, with assistance from Todd Shields and Shannon Pettypiece, (c) 2018 Bloomberg LP



    Donald Trump Facebook Google Twitter
    Subscribe to TechCentral Subscribe to TechCentral
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email Copy Link
    Previous ArticleThe Best in Tech | Steven Ambrose on the future of technology
    Next Article Backspace: ‘In the cloud’

    Related Posts

    Stolen phone? Samsung now buys you an hour to lock it down

    18 June 2025

    Major rift opens between Microsoft and OpenAI

    17 June 2025

    Trump Mobile dials into politics, profit and patriarchy

    17 June 2025
    Company News

    Making IT happen: how Trade Link gears up to enable SA retail strategies

    20 June 2025

    Why parents choose CambriLearn for online education

    19 June 2025

    Disrupt first, ask questions later – the uncomfortable truth about incident response

    18 June 2025
    Opinion

    South Africa pioneered drone laws a decade ago – now it must catch up

    17 June 2025

    AI and the future of ICT distribution

    16 June 2025

    Singapore soared – why can’t we? Lessons South Africa refuses to learn

    13 June 2025

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2025 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.