To give just one example, last September, a psychologist researcher by the name of Dr. Robert Epstein claimed that Google's search suggestions were giving an unfair advantage to Democratic Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. "It is somewhat difficult to get the Google search bar to suggest negative searches related to Mrs. Clinton or to make any Clinton-related suggestions when one types a negative search term," wrote Dr. Epstein, who is a Senior Research Psychologist at the American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology.
Dr. Epstein later explained that he first became interested in learning more about Google's political bias after watching two YouTube videos that seemingly proved that the search engine giant did have a pro-Hillary slant. The videos, which are narrated by Matt Lieberman, depict a series of screen grabs that appear to show that Google only generates positive search suggestions for Clinton, and mostly negative suggestions for her challengers Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump.
To Dr. Epstein, the information conveyed in these YouTube videos was particularly significant, considering the fact that a 2015 study revealed that "internet search rankings have a significant impact on consumer choices, mainly because users trust and choose higher-ranked results more than lower-ranked results."
Unsurprisingly, Google denied the allegations of political bias, telling the Washington Times that "Google Autocomplete does not favor any candidate or cause."
Another area where conservative viewpoints are being censored is the Google-owned video sharing site, YouTube. Prager U, founded by nationally syndicated conservative radio host Dennis Prager, is currently one of the most conservative YouTube channels in existence, known primarily for their short yet extremely informative videos on a wide variety of political issues.
You would think that videos such as "The Top 5 Issues Plaguing the Black Community," "Income Inequality is Good," "Things Every High School Principle Should Say," and "Debunking the 1 in 5 College Women Will Be Sexually Assaulted Myth" wouldn't be controversial enough for YouTube to take action against them, but alas, that's exactly what they did. Evidently, YouTube (which again, is owned by Google), considers these videos to be inappropriate and has placed them under a restricted category. (RELATED: YouTube censors video interview with Jeffery Smith about GMOs)
Typically, only videos that contain sexual content or adult themes are placed in the restricted category. For obvious reasons, many schools have set up blockers on their computers to deny students access to restricted YouTube content. Sadly, this means that thousands of young people across the country are not able to access certain videos from Prager U while they are on campus, even though the site was specifically made for millennials.
It may be time for President Trump and the republicans in congress to take action to break up Google's media monopoly for the good of the country. Considering the fact that most Americans use Google on a regular basis for their political news and information on current events, we must act to ensure that all viewpoints are given equal exposure. If President Trump is to take action, it should be in the interest of expanding free speech rights across the Internet; otherwise, Google's pattern of censorship and political suppression will only get worse.
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