Google’s shaping of people’s attitudes and behaviors through its control of internet searches amounts to something “way beyond” a monopoly, determined Dr. Robert Epstein, senior research psychologist at the American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology. He joined Monday’s edition of SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Tonight with hosts Rebecca Mansour and Joel Pollak to discuss Project Veritas’ undercover investigation documenting Google executives’ stated commitment to avoid another “Trump situation.”
“What we have here is yet another confirmation of what I and some other people have been trying to warn the world about for years. Google has been amazing in just keeping to itself and never allowing anything to leak, but this is probably the fourth or fifth major leak [within the past year] of materials again confirming what we could call my worst fears about the company.”
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“This has been happening for years,” said Esptein of Google’s manipulation of its services to advance left-wing and partisan Democrat politics. “This is happening now. This is happening every single day, and it’s not just happening in the U.S, which is why I’m speaking up, because politically, I’m closer to Google than I am to Breitbart. “
Epsitein continued, “I’m speaking up because this is happening now. This is not something they’re planning to do next year. This is something they’re doing right now. They’re training the algorithms to do this better and more effectively, more comprehensively. This is happening right this minute. This is happening today.”
“Google algorithms are having a dramatic impact on the thinking, behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, purchases, and voting preferences of two-and-a-half billion people, right now,” stated Epstein. “That’s the power they have. That’s the power they’re exercising.”
Google’s status is beyond that of a monopoly, explained Epstein.
“This is what a totalitarian regime does,” said Epstein of Google’s leveraging of its power in pursuit of political ends. “This is not a monopoly. A monopoly fixes prices. That’s not what this is. This is way beyond that. This is a repressive government. This is a totalitarian, authoritarian government that at this point rules much of the world.”
Epstein recalled, “I had calculated back in 2015 that Google’s search algorithm — even by that time — was determining the outcomes of upwards of 25 percent of the national elections in the world. This is because a lot of elections are very close, so it’s very easy to flip them.
Epstein went on, “Ninety-two percent of the searches in the world are conducted on Google’s search engine, and people trust the results they’re getting because [they believe] they’re getting them from an algorithm, and algorithms are objective and impartial. That shifts the opinion very rapidly and dramatically of people who are undecided.”
“Google is not a monopoly,” repeated Epstein. “Google is a totalitarian entity — a government-like entity — the likes of which the world has never seen, and no, I am not exaggerating. If anything, I am underplaying just how creepy this situation is.”
Epstein assessed the worldview of Google’s executives as politically messianic in its paving of the metaphorical road to hell with good intentions.
“The logic behind these creepy terms [such as “algorithmic unfairness”] is utopian,” stated Epstein. “In other words, these are people who see themselves as do-gooders. For the most part, I see them as do-gooders, also, because politically, I’m not a conservative. But the point is they see themselves as do-gooders. They see themselves as utopian, as people with a mission to create a better world.”
Epstein continued, “So they use language — the way they use the terms ‘fairness’ and ‘unfairness’ is so creepy — which on its surface looks really good, right? ‘Let’s have fairness in what we show people. Let’s have fairness in our algorithms.’ Except when you look more carefully, what they’re really saying is ‘Let’s promote one particular set of values. Let’s promote one particular political party. Let’s suppress material that contradicts the values that we hold and the politics we believe in.'”
“They’re hiding all that, which is a very simple straightforward political agenda,” added Espitein. They’re hiding that behind this very highfalutin utopian language. We’re here to make the world better.”
Epstein teased a forthcoming proposal of his which he said will “solve the Google problem.”
“I’ve figured out how to solve the Google problem, and I will be publishing on that within the next two weeks, or so,” said Epstein, noting his invitation to testify before Congress on political matters related to technology companies in July. “There is a way that’s quite viable to really end Google’s worldwide monopoly on search. It actually can be done, and because it can be done, I think it’s actually going to happen. I think Google’s going to go the way of the dinosaurs.”
“I really think there’s a way to end their worldwide monopoly on search, and that’s what you really have to do so that Google is no longer a threat to democracy and a threat to humankind,” concluded Epstein. “You have to end their monopoly on search. I finally came up with a way to do that. I will be publishing fairly soon. The article is now being edited. It will be very, very mainstream.”
“As always, I will give my friends at Breitbart a heads up so that you can cover this,” noted Epstein.
Epstein shared an anecdote in which fear for his safety was expressed.
“I did have someone who’s in law enforcement approach me after I had presented this idea to a small group of people and he told me he thinks I’m going to get killed sometime in the next week or two in an apparent accident,” Epstein remarked. “I’m thinking, ‘Wow, these law enforcement people have a great sense of humor, I guess,’ but he didn’t seem to be joking.”
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Follow Robert Kraychik on Twitter @rkraychik.