In short: In a statement provided to media outlets this week, Google denied allegations that any of its services or corporate actions are biased against the Republican party and President Trump in particular. The comment was issued in response to a video of a leaked staff meeting from late 2016 held shortly following the unexpected win of the Republican presidential nominee. The video (viewable below) that was originally published by right-wing outlet Breitbart and is now making the rounds on the Internet shows Google’s leadership expressing concerns about the outcome of the last presidential election in the United States.
Background: The development comes after months of anti-Republican bias accusations Google faced from the political right, having been prompted to defend itself against allegations of censorship and intolerance by a wide variety of actors, including President Trump himself. The head of the state, who called Google “one of our great companies” less than two months ago, threatened Alphabet’s subsidiary with a federal investigation in August, suggesting his perceived lack of positive coverage about the current administration is evidence of illegal behavior, albeit without elaborating on the matter. Google denied all such allegations on every occasion they arose, much like it did this week. Google co-founder Sergey Brin can be seen saying “most people here are pretty upset and pretty sad” in the leaked video, referencing Trump’s presidential race win. The multi-billionaire also speculated whether the outcome of the election could be attributed to voter boredom during the filmed meeting, whereas Google CEO Sundar Pichai pledged to do more to combat online misinformation and fake news, including the type of content that was prevalent during the 2016 election.
The impact: The current administration is expected to use the newly published video as extra ammunition for their anti-Google arguments, though with all opinions expressed therein being personal, legal ramifications are unlikely. Google officials are scheduled to be questioned by a Senate committee in late September and while that hearing is meant to focus on user privacy, it’s possible Google will be asked to comment on the video during the gathering as well.
https://youtu.be/E5gPdrlyc84