Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) announced on Wednesday that he is launching an investigation into Google after reports indicating that the search engine giant suppressed information about the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump.
Reports surfaced late last week from multiple sources, showing that Google’s auto-populate feature did not show the shooting of the former president, which raised questions about whether this was done deliberately to suppress information on the incident.
Google denied the accusations arguing that it was not a deliberate effort to hide this information. However, Marshall does not appear to be persuaded by the company’s protestation. In a letter sent to Google CEO Sundar Pichai, the lawmaker called the development “yet another example of censorship against conservative voices and violates the intent of Section 230.”
Marshall argued that “[o]mitting suggestions to the most obvious and recent victim of an assassination attempt shows a willful discrimination against President Trump and users of your search engine.”
The lawmaker also asserted that Google has displayed a clear bias in favor of the left at the expense of conservatives. “Google, the largest Search Engine Operator in the world, has become a propaganda wing of the Biden-Harris Administration and the radical left,” he wrote.
Marshall acknowledged Google’s denial in their “clarification,” but argued that it was not good enough.
However, this clarification is woefully inadequate, disingenuous, and misleading. If the autocomplete function is truly reflective of the recent searches completed on Google, the self-learning algorithms should have easily adjusted their autocomplete function during a massive increase in search queries over the last two weeks.
🚨BREAKING: I am launching a full investigation into @Google’s censorship & bias that is constricting the free flow of information. Google, the largest Search Engine Operator in the world, has become a propaganda wing of the Left. No more hiding behind your algorithm- your time… pic.twitter.com/l40L4TVQS4
— Dr. Roger Marshall (@RogerMarshallMD) July 31, 2024
During an interview with Fox Business, the senator was asked about Google’s bias. He argued that the company should not enjoy Section 230 protections while it continues to censor right-leaning speech.
“If Google wants to be MSNBC, then they need to lose their protection on 230. Google is supposed to be the county square where you and I and your listeners can go post information that we want to. They’re not supposed to be a censor. So they’re practicing, they’re functioning as a censor, therefore, they should lose their 230 protection.”
Marshall contended that Google doesn’t “want to see President Trump viewed as a hero, which he was on that day, when he literally took a bullet,” and said the company’s actions are “election interference.”
“What is the value of the largest search engine in the world actually suppressing President Trump?” he asked.
Google has a long and storied history of bias in favor of Democrats. It has used its platform to influence past elections. Several reports have exposed a clear left-wing bent among the company’s employees.
