Posted on 08/28/2018 6:36:07 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
President Donald Trump unleashed some unusually early morning tweets on Tuesday, citing a report from a conservative website to rip Google for allegedly biased search results.
Trump first claimed that “Google search results for ‘Trump News’ shows only the viewing/reporting of Fake New Media.”
“In other words, they have it RIGGED, for me & others, so that almost all stories & news is BAD,” he continued. “Fake CNN is prominent. Republican/Conservative & Fair Media is shut out.”
Trump then asked if the search results were “Illegal”, before elaborating: “96% of… results on ‘Trump News’ are from National Left-Wing Media, very dangerous.”
“Google & others are suppressing voices of Conservatives and hiding information and news that is good,” he added. “They are controlling what we can & cannot see. This is a very serious situation-will be addressed!”
(Excerpt) Read more at mediaite.com ...
I imagine we’ll be getting some posts now about how “private companies” can do whatever they want. Suppose an advertising agency with a monopoly on billboards decided to refuse to sell billboards to a specific political party two months before an election. Would that be permissible because they were a private company?
Does it not seem ridiculous that we’ve spent two years hearing about how horrible Russian influence on social media in 2016 was, but we’re now supposed to think nothing of companies that are largely influenced by China dictating what can and cannot be seen on the internet?
A big criticism of Trump is that flattery and good words the things that motivate him. If the first page of google results are 96% negative, they’re going to feel his wrath.
In general, I oppose government efforts to get rid of “monopolies”. A true monopoly is when the government itself confers special status to a business and disallows all competition. That is a bad thing. On the other hand, in a market economy, if AT&T or Microsoft out-competes everyone and dominates, I tend not to see it as a “monopoly” and I would not want the government to intervene.
But it sure seems to me like Google is in bed with the Deep State. It’s Fascism: corporate and government entities teaming up to control society. It’s rigged against pro-American viewpoints and I would like to see the government take Google apart.
I don't know why we're not seeing lawsuits about clear and numerous breaches of their own 30-page Terms Of Service Agreements. I've seen the violations pointed out in chapter and verse here and there but I'm too lazy to look those links up right now.
It’s possible that Alphabet (Google/YouTube), Facebook, Twitter and Verizon (Yahoo!), because they are companies with stock traded on NASDAQ and NYSE, could be violating FTC and SEC securities laws with their censorship on the Internet.
When allegedly independent corporations become bigger and more powerful than many governments they have evolved to nation-statehood and should be treated accordingly.
Takes only a second to try it and see that it is true.
I’d also check their prospectus to see if they are being truthful and transparent to their potential investors.
Google is an enemy of the Republic...intent on destroying freedom of speech and a is an evil tool of globalism.
That’s part of the potential violations of SEC and FTC regulations. Places like Facebook and Twitter should be politically neutral, and both Jack Dorsey and Mark Zuckerberg could be facing serious legal trouble if they violate SEC regulations.
Of course we can’t test this because now when you search on google for “trump news” most of the top hits are links to this story.
And four or five years ago you could find anything on youtube. Just yesterday I was shocked to find that satirical political videos which have been around for years have been banned and removed. I'm truly astonished.
“I imagine we’ll be getting some posts now about how “private companies” can do whatever they want.”
Because they are, whether some people on FR have decided that socialism is cool as long as they do it.
“Suppose an advertising agency with a monopoly on billboards decided to refuse to sell billboards to a specific political party two months before an election. Would that be permissible because they were a private company?”
Yes. They are not obligated to print your sign, just like a cake baker can be the only one in town and not want to bake a cake for a gay wedding.
And Google, Twitter, and Facebook are not monopolies. Their user base are made up of addicted idiots that cant bring themselves to use another platform. That’s not those companies problem. If they were actively working to deprive competitors their ability to run their own service, then you have an issue.
The iPod/iTunes is the classic example. 90% of the MP3 player market at a time. Not a monopoly. Just absurdly popular despite available alternatives that people should have been using.
“because they are companies with stock traded on NASDAQ and NYSE, could be violating FTC and SEC securities laws with their censorship on the Internet.”
They arent censoring the internet, because they arent the entirety of it. Not even remotely.
Agree.
The last thing a conservative should be doing is advocating for more government control of private business. ANY private business.
In fact what we should do is remove some existing government rules, such as the exemption all social media companies currently enjoy from libel laws. They have every right to edit and censor the content on their platforms, just like any newspaper or TV station. But since they are not the “neutral platform” they’ve claimed to be, the should be just as responsible for what they put out as any other media company. Because that’s what they have become.
And that is what Trump is going to do. Just watch.
Google is doing its own censoring via Gmail and wherever else they can, in my opinion. I was having trouble with an email about something political. I changed the subject line to Favorite Chocolate Cake Recipe and the email was sent immediately!
They’re reading subject lines and possibly text in emails they think are political and making it difficult to send. They send you a note saying you’re sending out Spam or too many emails.
It seems that Facebook and Google need to be avoided. DuckDuckGo.Com replaces google for most things. And then Freerepublic is able to send you to real news. And Firefox is much better than Edge or Chrome. You also need a good ad blocker as well.
Use palemoon instead of supporting firefox’ social justice cabal.
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