Google’s search engine may have “manipulated” millions of voters into supporting Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential election by way of slanted search results, US President Donald Trump has claimed in a tweet.
In a tweet on Monday, Trump suggested that a “report just out” concludes that the tech giant manipulated election results by up to 16 million votes, though it was not immediately clear what report he referring to.
“Wow, Report Just Out! Google manipulated from 2.6 million to 16 million votes for Hillary Clinton in 2016 election!” the president said.
In his testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee last June, Dr Robert Epstein, a psychologist and self-professed Clinton supporter, told lawmakers that Google had “impacted undecided voters in a way that gave at least 2.6 million votes to Hillary Clinton,” by way of “biased search results.” President Trump may have been citing Epstein, though he never gave the figure of 16 million in his testimony.
Epstein has been a fierce critic of Google and what he describes as its ability to swing voter opinion since the 2016 election, calling search engine manipulation “a serious threat to the democratic system of government.” Representatives from Google deny the charges of manipulation.
This is not the first time that Trump has brought up alleged voter manipulation. He has long suggested that illegal immigrants were allowed to vote in 2016, helping to win the popular vote for Clinton, though he has never provided evidence to support the claim.
Also on rt.com ‘Something dark & nefarious’: Google insider leaks docs revealing search engine ‘blacklist’The fallout of the 2016 presidential election has seen tech firms and social media platforms taking on a more political role, vowing to help combat the spread of “fake news” and “hate speech” online. Conservative critics have accused Silicon Valley giants of a strong left-wing bias, saying that social media companies have been censoring right-of-center and conservative voices as part of their efforts to fight misinformation.
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