Donald Trump, the Republican candidate for the 2024 U.S. presidential election, recently accused Google of only showing negative news stories about him. On Friday, he posted on his platform, Truth Social, claiming that if he wins the election, he would take legal action against the tech giant.
Trump specifically argued that Google highlights good stories about his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, while pushing down positive news about him. He referred to this as an “illegal activity” and expressed hope that the Justice Department would investigate Google for what he calls interference in the election.
Trump’s claims come after a report from a conservative group that analyzed Google searches related to the 2024 presidential race.
In his post, Trump stated, “It has been determined that Google has illegally used a system of only revealing and displaying bad stories about Donald J. Trump, some made up for this purpose, while at the same time, only revealing good stories about Comrade Kamala Harris.” He vowed to push for maximum legal consequences against Google if he becomes president.
In response, Google rejected these accusations, clarifying that both Trump’s and Harris’s campaign websites rank highly in search results for relevant queries.
They explained that the report referenced a rare search term on just one day, and even then, both candidates’ websites appeared at the top. Google emphasized that its search results are not biased and are determined by the relevance and popularity of the topics searched.
This back-and-forth highlights ongoing tensions in the political landscape regarding media coverage and search engine neutrality, particularly as the election approaches.