Google tepidly responds to Trump's allegations of 'rigged' search results


A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Thank you for signing up to TheWeek. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.
President Trump, inspired by conservative blogs and Fox News, accused Google on Tuesday of skewing search results to prioritize "left-wing media" that criticizes his administration.
He instructed White House officials to "take a look" at the phenomenon, which places prominent news outlets like The New York Times ahead of blogs like Breitbart when users search Google News.
Google responded in a statement insisting that "search is not used to set a political agenda," CNN reports. "We don't bias our results toward any political ideology." The statement may not appease those who worry about "conservative suppression," as Google merely explained its algorithm as prioritizing "high-quality content."
Subscribe to 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.
"We continually work to improve Google Search and we never rank search results to manipulate political sentiment," the statement concluded. The explanation didn't seem to prevent immediate fallout — Google parent company Alphabet's stock sunk promptly after White House chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow said he'd look at whether the search engine should be regulated.
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.
Sign up to our 10 Things You Need to Know Today newsletter
A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Summer is news editor at TheWeek.com, and has previously written for Newsweek and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. A graduate of Columbia Journalism School and Santa Clara University, she now lives in New York with two cats.
-
Elon Musk used Starlink, which saved Ukraine, to thwart a Ukrainian attack on Russia's Crimea fleet
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Fitch downgrades US credit rating, citing 'repeated debt-limit political standoffs'
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Bed Bath & Beyond relaunches online following bankruptcy
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
San Francisco's iconic Anchor Brewing is closing after 127 years
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Lawmakers say tax prep companies illegally shared taxpayer data with Meta and Google
Speed Read
By Theara Coleman Published
-
Microsoft wins FTC battle to acquire Activision Blizzard
Speed Read
By Theara Coleman Published
-
Tesla reports record quarter for sales
Speed Read
By Catherine Garcia Published
-
48 states sue telecom company over billions of robocalls
Speed Read
By Theara Coleman Published