OPINION:
Not long ago, Democrats denied that social media companies were censoring conservative thought. They labeled such claims a “conspiracy theory” cooked up by people unhappy about the lack of interest in their content.
In a filing last month with the House Judiciary Committee, Google’s parent firm, Alphabet, admitted it silenced right-of-center opinions and banned conservative creators at the urging of President Joseph R. Biden’s underlings.
“Senior Biden Administration officials, including White House officials, conducted repeated and sustained outreach to Alphabet and pressed the Company regarding certain user-generated content related to the COVID-19 pandemic that did not violate its policies. While the Company continued to develop and enforce its policies independently, Biden Administration officials continued to press the Company to remove non-violative user-generated content,” Alphabet lawyer Daniel F. Donovan wrote.
Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, Ohio Republican, demanded answers from the web search monopoly as part of his broader investigation into Silicon Valley censorship. YouTube, also owned by Alphabet, kicked out anyone suggesting COVID-19 emerged from a lab in China. It also brought the hammer down on users hinting at irregularities in the 2020 election count.
“YouTube values conservative voices on its platform and recognizes that these creators have extensive reach and play an important role in civic discourse. The Company recognizes these creators are among those shaping today’s online consumption, landing ‘must-watch’ interviews, giving viewers the chance to hear directly from politicians, celebrities, business leaders, and more,” Mr. Donovan wrote.
Google begs absolution for past sins because it fears President Trump’s antitrust wrath. With a corner on the market for internet searching and online advertising, the firm hoards vast cash reserves and boasts a $2.97 trillion market cap. Only Nvidia, Microsoft and Apple are worth more.
While those tech giants lean leftward and shower Democrats with millions in campaign cash, Google’s multibillionaire leadership went further. WikiLeaks published the fawning emails that then-Google CEO Eric Schmidt sent to Hillary Clinton’s campaign, including the plan he devised to help her get elected.
“If we get started soon, we will be in a very strong position to execute well for 2016,” he gushed in his missive. The secret schemes to promote leftism have only become more brazen over time.
Google’s latest artificial intelligence tools reflect the bias baked-in at the Mountain View, California, headquarters. The Gemini AI model is so committed to manipulating history and shoving “diversity” where it doesn’t belong that it racially swaps historical figures. It was bad enough depicting the Founding Fathers as Black men, but the woke program used a Black woman to illustrate what a Nazi looked like.
While Google is promising to mend its ways, this appears more like damage control than a sincere bid for redemption. Though YouTube said it would restore the voices canceled for addressing forbidden topics, accounts remain suppressed.
Google isn’t alone in misbehaving. Every Big Tech social media behemoth colluded to perpetuate the obvious lie about Hunter Biden’s sordid laptop contents being “Russian disinformation.” They colluded to smother the truth on the eve of the 2020 election.
Polls show the disreputable conduct of these conglomerates swayed enough votes to affect the outcome. That’s why the administration shouldn’t go easy on Google because the company is making empty pledges it will ignore the second Democrats return to the White House.
If there’s a point to the government having antitrust enforcement power in the first place, Google is the poster child for its swift application.
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