Ronna McDaniel, chairwoman of the Republican National Committee (RNC), expressed displeasure Tuesday after Google promoted a Democrat National Committee (DNC) blog post as news.
The ranking of non-news does not follow typical search results set by Google’s algorithms, which is to “promote original journalism.” Further, Google has not ranked the RNC or National Republican Senatorial Committee’s (NRSC) blog posts as news.
According to Google, the company displays and ranks news by the following framework:
Google News aims to promote original journalism and expose users to diverse perspectives. It doesn’t accept payments to expedite or improve a site’s search appearance or ranking. Ranking in Google News is determined algorithmically by these factors:
- Relevance of content
- Prominence
- Authoritativeness
- Freshness
- Location
- Language
Though Google’s parameters seem broad, Google has a history of preferring information which often opposes right-leaning organizations. Breitbart News reported in the summer of 2020 that Google greatly reduced Breitbart News’ search results by 99.7 percent.
Additionally, a video recorded by Google, which was leaked in 2018, revealed “an atmosphere of panic and dismay amongst the tech giant’s leadership, coupled with a determination to thwart both the Trump agenda and the broader populist movement emerging around the globe,” according to Allum Bokhari at Breitbart News.