Google is up to its regular election tricks, according to the Media Research Center. An MRC investigation found that when searching for a candidates name with “presidential race 2024,” Joe Biden’s campaign website is the top result, while Donald Trump’s campaign website doesn’t appear on the first page.
The MRC reports that as the 2024 presidential race heats up, concerns are growing about the role of technology giants in shaping public opinion and access to information. A recent investigation MRC has uncovered what they claim to be evidence of bias in Google’s search results, potentially impacting the visibility of presidential candidates’ campaign websites.
The MRC’s research, conducted just days before tonight’s highly anticipated presidential debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, revealed stark differences in how Google presents search results for various candidates. When searching for a candidate’s name along with “presidential race 2024,” researchers found that President Biden’s campaign website appeared as the top result, while former President Trump’s website was notably absent from the first page of results.
This discrepancy has led to accusations of election interference. MRC President Brent Bozell stated, “Google is blatantly interfering in the 2024 election.” The organization’s findings suggest that the issue extends beyond just these two candidates, with pro-life candidates seemingly receiving less favorable treatment in search rankings.
The study involved two sets of search queries. The first set focused on individual candidates, while the second examined results for party-specific searches. In both cases, researchers noted significant disparities in how different candidates’ websites were ranked.
For the party-specific searches, the results were equally concerning to the MRC. A search for “republican party presidential campaign websites” placed Trump’s campaign site at the 39th position out of 40 results, while a similar search for Democratic candidates prominently featured Biden’s website at the top.
The importance of search result rankings cannot be overstated in the digital age. With Google commanding a global market share of nearly 92 percent in the search engine space, the visibility of information on its platform can significantly influence public perception and access to campaign resources.
Search engine optimization expert Brian Dean’s research underscores this point, revealing that the top result in Google searches receives 27.6 percent of all clicks, with a dramatic drop-off for lower-ranked results. This data suggests that the positioning of campaign websites in search results could have a substantial impact on a candidate’s online visibility and, potentially, their campaign’s reach.
It’s worth noting that this is not the first time Google has faced scrutiny over its potential influence on elections. The MRC has documented 41 instances of alleged election interference by Google since 2008, with the frequency and intensity of these occurrences reportedly increasing in recent years. Google is no stranger to manipulating its search results. Breitbart News extensively documented Google’s suppression of Breitbart itself in the months leading up to the 2020 election. Even searches with the exact headline would not return links to Breitbart News in many cases.
Google, for its part, has consistently maintained that its search algorithms are designed to provide the most relevant and useful information to users, without political bias. However, the opacity of these algorithms and the significant impact they can have on information dissemination continue to raise questions about the responsibility and power of tech companies in democratic processes.
Read more at the Media Research Center here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.