Trump calls for criminal prosecution of Google over search results

Former President Donald Trump called for the criminal prosecution of Google over what he said was the tech giant’s bias toward his presidential opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, in online search results.

Trump appeared to be referring to a report released this week from the Media Research Center, a conservative group, that claims it found that Google search engine results displayed positive results about Harris more prominently than those for Trump when searching “Donald Trump presidential race 2024.”

Trump said in a post on Truth Social that if the Department of Justice does not prosecute Google, he will “request their prosecution, at the maximum levels, when I win the Election.”

“It has been determined that Google has illegally used a system of only revealing and displaying bad stories about Donald J. Trump, some made up for this purpose while, at the same time, only revealing good stories about Comrade Kamala Harris,” Trump wrote on his social media platform. “This is an ILLEGAL ACTIVITY.”

A spokesperson for Google said in a statement that the company does not manipulate search results to favor any candidate, and suggested the search term in question—the candidate’s name, followed by “presidential race 2024″—was actually pretty niche. “Both campaign websites consistently appear at the top of Search for relevant and common search queries,” the spokesperson said. “This report looked at a single rare search term on a single day a few weeks ago, and even for that search, both candidates’ websites ranked in the top results on Google.”

The former president has a long-standing feud with the tech giant, with multiple grievances. At one point, Trump falsely claimed that Google “manipulated” millions of votes in the 2016 election, and that a lack of Google autocomplete results about Trump and his attempted assassination is evidence of election interference.


Update: This story has been updated to include comment from Google.

https://www.fastcompany.com/91199295/trump-calls-for-criminal-prosecution-of-google-over-search-results?partner=rss&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss+fastcompany&utm_content=rss

Created 9mo | Sep 27, 2024, 9:30:07 PM


Login to add comment

Other posts in this group

This entrepreneur made billions on crypto. His next frontier is outer space

Perched on a dusty high desert plain about 100 miles north of downtown Los Angeles, the Mojave Air and Space Port looks more like a final destination for aerospace experiments than a stepping ston

Jul 1, 2025, 11:40:04 AM | Fast company - tech
Inside Wikipedia’s AI revolt—and what it means for the media

Before generative AI, if you wanted an inexpensive way to build out lo

Jul 1, 2025, 9:30:03 AM | Fast company - tech
Why this bank is hiring full-time AI employees

Banks are embracing the AI workforce—but some institutions are taking un

Jul 1, 2025, 9:30:02 AM | Fast company - tech
Meet Picastro, the Instagram alternative for astrophotographers

For those who’ve had enough of scrolling AI slop, meet Picastro: an In

Jul 1, 2025, 4:40:07 AM | Fast company - tech
Here’s what Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ means for AI

The Republican Party’s 800-page One Big Beautiful Bill Act is now being debated i

Jul 1, 2025, 12:10:04 AM | Fast company - tech
Colombian gangs are using social media to recruit children, the U.N. warns

Colombian gangs are using social media to reach and recruit children, the United Nations has warned.

Gangs and rebel groups are enticing children to enlist by posting videos on platforms

Jun 30, 2025, 9:50:02 PM | Fast company - tech
Senate debates revised state AI regulation ban

Two key U.S. Republican senators agreed to a revised federal moratorium on state regulation of

Jun 30, 2025, 7:30:04 PM | Fast company - tech