A stunning new study from Media Research Center (MRC) shows just how biased Google search results are when it comes to the world of politics.
By typing in just one query, “Presidential campaign websites,” Google returned only Democratic Party candidates — some of which are not even running in 2024. A notable Democrat who does not appear is Robert F. Kennedy Jr., even though the controversial scion of Camelot is second in the Democratic race.
No Republican candidates appeared on the first page of results even though the search was conducted the day before the first GOP debate — a time when Americans are looking to the internet for more clarity on the candidates.
The results of the analysis would almost be funny if they weren’t such a threat to democracy. Not surprisingly, Joe Biden’s campaign pops up first but after that? Marianne Williamson, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren. Seriously.
The research was done using a clean algorithm that is not impacted by prior searches or cookies, so what we are seeing is Google’s baseline for results, and it clearly shows that while Americans expect Google to act as a neutral resource, it is anything but one.
MRC’s Vice President for Free Speech Dan Schneider put it this way, “Google has erased every threat to Joe Biden. We know that Google pulled out all the stops to put Hillary Clinton in the White House and they have continued to interfere in our elections ever since. Compared to social media platforms, it is harder to document what Google does in secret but we at MRC Free Speech America have caught them red handed again.”
And this isn’t the first time. Back in October of 2020 MRC found Google’s thumb on the scale in search results leading up to the midterm election. And wouldn’t you know, then as now, the stifling of speech went only in one direction, against conservative voices.
According to Schneider, “Google has consistently stood apart from all other search engines, and not in a good way. We have repeatedly seen Google and Big Tech social media platforms treat Republican candidates harshly compared to their Democrat opponents.”
There are really only two things that can be going on here: either these biased results are intentional, which Google denies, or the implicit Left wing bias of the software engineers and others in the company is seeping into the search engine.
According to Open Secrets, 88% of political donations from Google employees go to Democrats. So should we really be surprised when the product they produce pushes a liberal agenda?
It should also come as no surprise then that Democrats in Congress have opposed almost any investigation into, or legislation targeting Big Tech political bias, after all, it’s working to their benefit.
It is also working not just to harm conservatives, but the entire country. Whether in regard to elections, COVID, Critical Race Theory, or the trans issue, perfectly reasonable positions have been throttled by Google.
Over 90% of the world uses Google as its primary search engine, so how can voters be properly informed on the candidates and the issues if the ultimate arbiter of online relevance is stacked against one side?
The time for Congress to act is now, first by continuing to haul the Big Tech bosses to Capitol Hill to explain why this is happening and why it’s not changing, and then to pass meaningful legislation cracking down on ideological bias in the industry.
Search engine bias is a silent form of censorship, a lie of omission if you will.That makes it no less perilous to our politics, because people don’t know what they don’t know, and Google seems happy to keep its users in ignorant bliss, as long as it helps the Left.
Conservatives can no longer throw up their hands on this issue and pretend it just isn’t happening. Google searches are too entwined in the daily lives of Americans for this rank bias to stand. To some degree, in today’s age, Google search results are reality itself.
For better or worse, Big Tech — and Google in particular — is now the gatekeeper of information. The 1st Amendment can give us all the right to free speech, but what use is that if the tech titans and social media barons manipulate what average Americans actually see?
The bias is real, the bias is proven, and whether by the hand of the industry or the government, the bias has to stop.
David Marcus is a West Virginia based columnist and author of “Charade: The Covid Lies That Crushed A Nation”
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.