GOOG Alphabet Inc

By Vivian Salama 

WASHINGTON -- President Trump on Tuesday accused Alphabet Inc.'s Google search platform of elevating critical news stories about his presidency at the expense of friendly conservative voices, declaring that it is a "very serious situation" that will be addressed.

On Twitter, the president wrote in a pair of early morning tweets that a search in Google for "Trump News" yielded only "the viewing/reporting of Fake [News] Media."

"In other words, they have it RIGGED, for me & others, so that almost all stories & news is BAD," he wrote.

"Fake CNN is prominent. Republican/Conservative & Fair Media is shut out," he wrote. "Google & others are suppressing voices of Conservatives and hiding information and news that is good. They are controlling what we can & cannot see. This is a very serious situation-will be addressed!"

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Asked to elaborate later on the administration's views on potential regulation of the search giant, Lawrence Kudlow, the director of Mr. Trump's National Economic Council, said, "We'll let you know, we're taking a look at it."

Republicans have criticized social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter over their treatment of conservatives on their platforms. Last week, the president accused social media platforms of "silencing millions of people."

Earlier in the month, Mr. Trump also claimed that tech companies are "totally discriminating against Republican/Conservative voices," pledging that his administration "won't let that happen."

Google News's search algorithm is opaque, and news media outlets expend considerable energy and resources optimizing their online content to win better placement in search results.

Accusations that Google tampers with search results are not new or uncommon. Those accusations took on a new life during the 2016 presidential election when some conservatives claimed that the technology giant was censoring controversial subjects as part of an effort to purge the internet of fake news reports.

In recent weeks, tech giants Facebook Inc., Apple Inc., Alphabet Inc.'s YouTube platform and Spotify Technology S.A. stripped their sites of content from far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, saying the Infowars star had violated terms of service barring certain hateful or offensive speech. Mr. Jones still retains his Twitter account.

In April, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Robert Goodlatte (R, Va.) warned tech executives in a hearing that while social media companies were "exercising great care and discretion to ensure that their services are not abused," there is a "fine line between removing illegal activity and suppressing speech."

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 28, 2018 10:24 ET (14:24 GMT)

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