In a move that impacts European Union Parliamentary elections and provides an ominous warning for U.S. elections, Google — which also owns YouTube — is determined to make its mark on the election process.
In a Feb. 9 blog post, Google reemphasized its commitment to “fight misinformation,” a leftist catchphrase for censorship, as it prepares for the June EU elections for Members of the European Parliament (MEPs). The tech giant seems to have its election interference plan mapped out as it claims it will collaborate with government authorities, promote selected sources, and use artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance its ability to censor and control the information that voters can access.
Google highlighted how it will continue its long legacy of censoring news sources that go against the grain of the mainstream narrative. The blog post promised that Google would be “surfacing high-quality information to voters” and that it would enhance and enforce its “policies around demonstrably false claims that could undermine democratic processes." In the past, this has meant that Google censored and suppressed the speech of those who got in the way of its political agenda.
That’s where AI comes into the picture. Google claimed it would have “an increased focus on the role of artificial intelligence (AI) and the part it can play in the misinformation landscape.” The company added that it would also be “leveraging AI models to augment our abuse-fighting efforts.”
Google-owned YouTube will also be working to control what election information is available to voters. The company alleged it would push the election content specifically selected by Google. “For news and information related to elections, our systems prominently surface content from authoritative sources, on the YouTube homepage, in search results and the ‘Up Next’ panel,” the blog post stated.
Google further noted its efforts to provide “campaigns and candidates with best-in-class security features and training.” The company added that it will identify and target vaguely defined “coordinated influence operations.”
Based on its track record of blatantly censoring the news and certain political candidates, Google cannot be trusted to fairly play the role of information referee. Google has repeatedly blacklisted well-respected news sites. And, over the last eight years, study after study has shown that Google presents more liberal and left-leaning content than conservative or right-leaning content.
In recent years, MRC Free Speech America research has also found evidence of Google bias, especially when it comes to ranking GOP candidates’ sites in search results. Google should not be setting itself up as an arbiter of truth.
Conservatives are under attack. Contact Google at 650-253-0000 and demand it be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on so-called hate speech and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using CensorTrack’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
