Googling oneself can turn up some pretty astounding results: abandoned MySpace pages, uncomfortable snapshots we didn't know existed, and perhaps "National Left-Wing Media."
The latter is apparently what President Trump found when he searched the term "Trump News," per a Tuesday morning tweet. And now Trump's personal qualm with Google search results is sparking some form of federal inquiry, The Washington Post reports.
On Tuesday, Trump double-tweeted his dismay with finding that "96 percent of (Google) results on 'Trump News' are from National Left-Wing Media." It's not clear how Trump's seemingly anecdotal evidence produced that number, though it may have come from a right-wing blog. Nevertheless, the president declared that lack of "Republican/Conservative & Fair Media" means Google's results page is "RIGGED," and he went so far to question if it was "illegal."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
White House chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow took Trump's tweeted promise to address this "serious situation" a step further. When asked if Trump thinks Google should be regulated, Kudlow told reporters Tuesday that "we're taking a look at it," per the Post. Stock in Google parent company Alphabet promptly sunk in pre-market trading, Bloomberg's Lisa Abramowicz pointed out in a tweet.
As The Toronto Star's Daniel Dale points out, the president's complaint appears to be rooted in the fact "that the news tab for Trump brings up ... news sites ... rather than right-wing opinion sites." In a statement, Google said it strives to "make sure [users] receive the most relevant answers in a matter of seconds."
If only we could all call out Google for reupping our embarrassing Facebook post from 2008.
-
Why are American conservatives clashing with Pope Leo?Talking Points Comments on immigration and abortion draw backlash
-
9 haunted hotels where things definitely go bump in the nightThe Week Recommends Don’t fear these spirited spots. Embrace them.
-
Saudi comedy fest exposes free speech schism in stand-upIN THE SPOTLIGHT The decision by some of stand-up’s biggest names to attend a festival in a nation infamous for its censorship has the comedy world picking sides and settling old scores
-
Electronic Arts to go private in record $55B dealspeed read The video game giant is behind ‘The Sims’ and ‘Madden NFL’
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fineSpeed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in IntelSpeed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to ChinaSpeed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with DisneySpeed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B dealSpeed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance mergerSpeed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profitsSpeed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
