by Jack Davis
New evidence that technology’s giants are muzzling conservatives has emerged after the web site PJ Media wanted to find out if Google did in fact lurch to the left when users wanted the latest information on President Donald Trump.
Writer Paula Bolyard on Saturday reported on the results of her experiment, which the site was fully upfront about admitting was not scientific.
The headline of her article said it all: “96 Percent of Google Search Results for ‘Trump’ News Are from Liberal Media Outlets.”
She then looked at the first 100 items, and the trend continued. There were 21 articles from CNN, 11 each from The Washington Post and NBC, and 8 from CNBC. Other sites at the top of the list included The New York Times, Atlantic, Politico, Vox, CBS and the Wall Street Journal.
Fox News was listed twice.
“This is their great offensive to try to silence differing opinion,” he said Monday on “Fox & Friends,” Fox News reported. “And make no mistake, it’s not because the conservative voices are offensive. It’s because they are effective.”
Kirk said conservatives must fight the tech giants.
“We need to push back because it could be a huge, huge problem moving forward,” he said.
“The very bottom line is the left hates the idea that there are other ideas. And they control these public forums or these vehicles of conversation. They’re going to use every piece of power and influence they can to try to suppress our voice. And we cannot stand for it,” he added.
Bolward was hardly the first to suggest that Google buries the right while promoting the left.
A 2017 study by the website “Can I Rank” said that the bias in Google was clear.
“Our analysis of the algorithmic metrics underpinning those rankings
suggests that factors within the Google algorithm itself may make it
easier for sites with a left-leaning or centrist viewpoint to rank
higher in Google search results compared to sites with a politically
conservative viewpoint,” it added.
“Google does not manipulate results,” said Google spokeswoman Maggie Shiels. “There are more than 200 signals taken into account when someone does a search which include freshness of results.”
Bolyard’s conclusion was that Americans need to be aware that their searches are being manipulated.
“With all the talk and hand-wringing about fake news and bad foreign actors using social media outlets to attempt to manipulate election results, far too little attention has been paid to power brokers like Google, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube and their ability — and perhaps even desire — to manipulate public opinion and shape the world into their own Silicon Valley image,” she wrote.