Google

Trump threatens to watch Google "very closely" in new tweetstorm

by Alan Friedman / Aug 06, 2019, 4:12 PM

One day after saying that hate has no place in the U.S., President Donald Trump went after Google and its CEO Sundar Pichai. In a series of tweets, the president said that Pichai spoke with him in the Oval Office where the executive supposedly told Trump how much he liked him and what a great job the administration is doing. The president went on to add that Pichai told him that Google was not involved with China's military and that they didn't have a bias toward Hillary Clinton in 2016. Trump wrote that Google's CEO said that his company doesn't plan to "illegally subvert the 2020 Election despite all that has been said to the contrary." The latter appears to be a supurious charge against Google.

So what set off the Commander-in-chief today? Apparently, Trump saw a segment on Lou Dobbs' Fox Business show about a fired Google engineer named Kevin Cernekee who had talked with Fox's Tucker Carlson. Cernekee told Carlson that Google really wants "Trump to lose in 2020. That’s their agenda." Google denied the allegations, and we should point out that both Dobbs and Carlson have agendas of their own. Cernekee, according to some Google employees, tried to promote some alt-right theories inside the company. He claims that Google fired him for his beliefs, although Google says he was fired for downloading internal company documents on his own mobile device.

Trump has attacked Google before for a perceived bias

"The statements made by this disgruntled former employee are absolutely false. We go to great lengths to build our products and enforce our policies in ways that don’t take political leanings into account. Distorting results for political purposes would harm our business and go against our mission of providing helpful content to all of our users."-Google spokesman

The segment on Dobbs' show included an appearance of Breitbart editor Peter Schweizer. The conservative journalist caught Trump's attention and the president tweeted that "@peterschweizer stated with certainty that they suppressed negative stories on Hillary Clinton, and boosted negative stories on Donald Trump. All very illegal. We are watching Google very closely!"

Trump's tweetstorm against Google today

This isn't the first time that the famously thin-skinned Trump attacked Google. In August of 2018, Trump disseminated a tweet accusing the company of rigging its search results so that stories critical of the president were more prominently listed. The president that weekend had seen a report on Fox from conservative blog PJ Media that was titled, "96 Percent of Google Search Results for 'Trump' News Are from Liberal Media Outlets." Of course, everyone is entitled to his or her opinions, but when someone has the power to make or break a company, mere hearsay cannot be used as evidence. For example, hours after Trump wrote that tweet last year, his economic advisor Lawrence Kudlow said that the administration was looking into regulating Google Search. Nothing came of that, obviously.

However, Google does have some real problems of its own making. The U.S. Department of Justice is looking into possible anticompetitive behavior by Google along with other big tech names like Apple, Facebook, and Amazon. You might recall that last year, the European Commission (EC) fined Google $5 billion for monopolistic behavior. The EC found that Google forced phone manufacturers who wanted to license the Google Play services version of Android to pre-install the Chrome browser and Google Search app. The company also paid manufacturers who installed only Google's search engine app on their devices, locking out competitors. The EC forced Google to include two pages on Android phones that allow users to choose a default browser among options like Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge, Opera, and Puffin. Another page gives Android users in Europe the option to choose a default search engine among Google, Qwant, DuckDuck Go, and others.

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34 Comments

1. IT-Engineer

Posts: 580; Member since: Feb 26, 2015

It's all about me! Me me & me!!!! What a low life of a person this orange man is!

posted on Aug 06, 2019, 4:24 PM 16

14. lyndon420

Posts: 6898; Member since: Jul 11, 2012

Try living up here in Canada with the pathetic PM we have right now lol. Do a poll amongst real Canadians...I guarantee most would love to trade you for Trump. The liberals/left have destroyed this country...

posted on Aug 06, 2019, 8:13 PM 2

20. jojon

Posts: 437; Member since: Feb 11, 2014

lyndon420 ,,,i hear you

posted on Aug 07, 2019, 1:43 AM 1

21. IT-Engineer

Posts: 580; Member since: Feb 26, 2015

See, I know you're a right wing and all that. But you lost me at real Canadians. You are not a real Canadian, and the only real American is a red Indian or a native. These countries were stolen from the natives after the soil was soaked with their blood, and then rebuilt by immigrants from all over the world! Now if you mean by real as White, then that's a different matter all together.

posted on Aug 07, 2019, 1:52 AM 5

28. lyndon420

Posts: 6898; Member since: Jul 11, 2012

It's not about color of skin...you're trying to peg me as a racist but I'm not. It's about maintaining the culture and laws. I have no problem with immigration if those entering adopt our language, laws, and be productive members of society - but opening up the borders for any kind of scum that wants to enter is wrong. Look at Hungary for example - the people there don't want a bunch of immigrants entering because they are happy with how things are, and their president isn't forcing them to change. Canada is becoming a landfill - "bring all your problems and mental illnesses here, because we are afraid of being labeled as intolerant". Google 'Yaniv' (it lives in Vancouver) for an example of the kind of mental illness that we put up with here...

posted on Aug 07, 2019, 12:40 PM 0

29. nepalisherpa

Posts: 338; Member since: Jul 17, 2015

So, all existing citizens follow laws and are productive members of the society?

posted on Aug 07, 2019, 12:46 PM 0

30. lyndon420

Posts: 6898; Member since: Jul 11, 2012

Nope...I wasn't implying that. We had a bad enough of a welfare/assistance problem already before Trudeau opened our border to the rest of the world.

posted on Aug 07, 2019, 2:40 PM 0

31. Crispin_Gatieza

Posts: 3168; Member since: Jan 23, 2014

Adopt our language and laws? So I take it you speak Lakota. The White man STOLE this land from the Native Americans. Crossing the Southern border is not sneaking in, it’s called land re-appropriation.

posted on Aug 07, 2019, 4:31 PM 1

32. lyndon420

Posts: 6898; Member since: Jul 11, 2012

I'd much rather the native Americans regain more control over this country than witness more of what's happening now. And by the way...I have numerous native friends, and none of them want more illegal immigrants entering Canada.

posted on Aug 07, 2019, 4:38 PM 0

26. Vancetastic

Posts: 1799; Member since: May 17, 2017

Extreme factions of any party tend to destroy things. Having said that, you may have Mr. Trump, with my blessings.

posted on Aug 07, 2019, 9:40 AM 1

33. tedkord

Posts: 17489; Member since: Jun 17, 2009

"Real Canadians," huh?

posted on Aug 08, 2019, 4:30 PM 0

2. tedkord

Posts: 17489; Member since: Jun 17, 2009

He's gonna make sure Google doesn't subvert the 2020 election while he and Moscow Mitch make sure the Russians do.

posted on Aug 06, 2019, 4:25 PM 10

5. Back_from_beyond

Posts: 1476; Member since: Sep 04, 2015

He's ready to accept and tolerate any foreign power's interference in the elections as long as it benefits him.

posted on Aug 06, 2019, 5:11 PM 8

7. blingblingthing

Posts: 982; Member since: Oct 23, 2012

Him and Moscow Mitch.

posted on Aug 06, 2019, 5:13 PM 5

25. Mike88

Posts: 438; Member since: Mar 05, 2019

Google and Trump are working together in same mission,, Google wants to help him to win,

posted on Aug 07, 2019, 7:49 AM 0

3. Mikele

Posts: 187; Member since: Nov 19, 2013

This Fella doesn't have work to do in that Oval office

posted on Aug 06, 2019, 5:03 PM 3

8. blingblingthing

Posts: 982; Member since: Oct 23, 2012

No, that's why he appointed unqualified persons to his cabinet. Once they fail, he can claim it wasn't him and he had nothing to do with it.

posted on Aug 06, 2019, 5:14 PM 8

4. MsPooks

Posts: 255; Member since: Jul 08, 2019

Leaked videos of Google executives discussing what they're going to do to influence future elections are reason enough to pound Google. Even Elizabeth Warren, Hillary Clinton, and Tulsi Gabbard have been impacted by Google's meddling. Then you see the hit jobs on conservative commentators on YouTube, and it's clear Google has an agenda. A lot of ignorant people are going to bury their heads in the sand because "Orange man bad!" But the need to rein in the tech giants' influence is a bipartisan issue, with bipartisan support.

posted on Aug 06, 2019, 5:11 PM 8

9. Back_from_beyond

Posts: 1476; Member since: Sep 04, 2015

I think Google does a good enough job to remain neutral, but search results will be stacked against Trump simply based on the fact that the majority of the world absolutely cannot stand the guy and to be fair Trump does a pisspoor job of making himself look good too. Should we just make Google even the playing field, because Trump wants to be looked at more positively? I really don't think that's reasonable.

posted on Aug 06, 2019, 5:18 PM 8

10. MsPooks

Posts: 255; Member since: Jul 08, 2019

"Search results will be stacked against Trump" You think THAT'S reasonable? From your search engine? Holy f*k.

posted on Aug 06, 2019, 6:07 PM 2

12. oldskool50 unregistered

Search result are based on info people themselves who say they hate Trump.is why search result say that. If you sont understand that with the over 20,000+ lies he has told, the fact of what he said about women and more and tou think Goovlenis skewing results against hom; to believe that would mean you would have to be galacrically stupid. Trump.is an ignorant stupid dog who is going tonprison. If you love him so much Pooks, go with him. You must be a FOX News watcher. Because with all the racist BS he has spewed, there is no way you should be siding against Google. You must be complete blind or total clueless.

posted on Aug 06, 2019, 7:06 PM 5

22. mootu

Posts: 1541; Member since: Mar 16, 2017

Of course it's reasonable, thats the way search engines work. If a billion people search "is trump a pedo" than that result would work it's way to the top of the lists. Yet you probably praise Fox News who do nothing but worship the tangerine toddler and make up garbage about everyone else to discredit them. That IS total bias and they are the ones who should be watched closely.

posted on Aug 07, 2019, 2:33 AM 2

27. Vancetastic

Posts: 1799; Member since: May 17, 2017

“Tangerine Toddler”...LOL

posted on Aug 07, 2019, 9:41 AM 1

34. tedkord

Posts: 17489; Member since: Jun 17, 2009

Yes, because it's based on the search pattern of the entire internet. The fact that most people think Trump is a fool shapes the result. To change it to suit Trump would be political bias.

posted on Aug 08, 2019, 4:34 PM 0

17. JPMTexas

Posts: 3; Member since: Aug 06, 2019

You're wasting your time. There's no getting through that veil of blind intolerant rage from the left. They had 8 years of participation trophies...The very notion of losing, is beyond their comprehension. Cheating is acceptable because they have been manipulated into believing (not thinking) that the world is going to end if they don't. f**king Russian can only dream of the election meddling powers big tech has.

posted on Aug 06, 2019, 9:05 PM 5

35. tedkord

Posts: 17489; Member since: Jun 17, 2009

Holy hell, that's the most irony I've ever seen in one comment.

posted on Aug 08, 2019, 4:34 PM 0

6. blingblingthing

Posts: 982; Member since: Oct 23, 2012

Why would Google searches for Trump news give you a conservative site knowing they don't cover negative Trump articles?

posted on Aug 06, 2019, 5:12 PM 2

11. oldskool50 unregistered

Considering the CEO of Google is from a country of people Trump hates, he is most. Certainly not telling Teump how much he likes him. Trump.is a frikkin liar. The soon to are out of office and in jail, the sooner the US actually might become great for the first time in its history.