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Conservative Leaders Publish Letter to Google Demanding Explanation About Conservative Censorship

20-8-2019 < SGT Report 24 756 words
 

Conservative leaders including Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe, Media Research Center President L. Brent Bozell, LifeSiteNews.com Editor-in-Chief John-Henry Westen, and many others have released a letter that they sent to Google CEO Sundar Pichai and members of Congress demanding an explanation about conservative censorship by the Big Tech giant.


August 20, 2019


Mr. Sundar Pichai


Chief Executive Officer


Google Inc.


1600 Amphitheatre Parkway


Mountain View, CA 94043



Dear Mr. Pichai,


We are writing today to ask that you provide a detailed response to the August 14 document release by Project Veritas which appears to show that Google blocked conservative websites on one of your news platforms.


When questioned before Congress in December of last year about whether your company manipulated its search results, you unequivocally denied it.


In March, a study by Robert Epstein identified pro-liberal bias in Google search results that helped flip three Orange County, CA, congressional districts in the 2018 midterm elections. Nationwide, Epstein found the results may have influenced 4.6 million undecided voters.


In April, the Daily Caller reported that Google’s Trust and Safety team manually manipulated various search features to exclude a number of conservative websites including the American Spectator,Gateway Pundit and Conservative Tribune.


In June, video leaked of a Google manager claiming the company was training its algorithms to prevent the 2016 election outcome from happening again.


Now we have learned that a Google app was blocking conservative websites including The Daily Caller, NewsBusters, Rush Limbaugh, and many more.


And the August 14 document leak also explained how the “Twiddler” system lets Google/YouTube workers rank search results based upon what your companies want emphasized or de-emphasized. Manipulated topics included pro-life advocacy along with several political and conservative organizations, like The Heritage Foundation.


Senator Ted Cruz attempted to get to the bottom of at least some of these instances during a July Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, but the Google representative dodged most of the questioning. It seems that in these, and other cases that have come to light in recent years, Google’s strategy seems to be to say as little as possible and hope that everyone moves on from the story.


In addition to providing an explanation for the past incidents that have already been brought to light, we demand to know what policies, programs, algorithms or any other business practices are, or have been in place to censor conservative content, and we call on you to disclose them and eliminate them immediately. If there are none currently in place, then we want your public commitment there will be none in the future. Further, we want to know what steps Google is taking to ensure it will not happen again.


Please provide your prompt response. We will publish your response or call attention to your lack thereof.



Sincerely,


L. Brent Bozell


Founder and President


Media Research Center



Morton Blackwell


Chairman


Weyrich Lunch



Byron Schlommach


Director


1889 Institute



Lady Brigitte Gabriel


Founder and Chairman


ACT for America


Tim Wildmon


President


American Family Association



Jon Schweppe


Director of Policy and Government Affairs


American Principles Project



Mark Fitzgibbons


President of Corporate Affairs


America Target Advertising, Inc.



Gary Bauer


CEO and President


American Values



John Hinderaker


President


Center of the American Experiment



David N. Bossie


President


Citizens United



Penny Nance


CEO and President


Concerned Women for America



The Honorable George K. Rasley, Jr.


Managing Editor


ConservativeHQ.com



James Nolan, Esq.


President


Crossroads Pro-Life



Adam Brandon


President


Freedom Works



Christie Lee McNally


Founder


Free Our Internet



Gene Mills


President


Louisiana Family Forum



Charles Copeland


President


Intercollegiate Studies Institute



John-Henry Westen


Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief


LifeSiteNews.com



Frank Lasée


President


The Heartland Institute



Justin Danhof


General Counsel


National Center for Public Policy Research
Rod Martin


Founder and CEO


The Martin Organization



Kevin D. Freeman


Founder and Chairman


National Security Investment Consultant Institute



James O’Keefe


Founder and President


Project Veritas



Kristan Hawkins


President


Students for Life of America


Jenny Beth Martin


Honorary Chairman


Tea Party Patriots Action



Floyd Brown


Publisher


The Western Journal



C. Preston Noell III


President


Tradition, Family, Property, Inc.



David Kupelian


Vice President and Managing Editor


WorldNetDaily



Craig Shirley


Author


Ronald Reagan Biographer



James Martin


Founder and Chairman


60 Plus Association



Saulius Anuzis


President


60 Plus Association



Allen West


Senior Fellow


Media Research Center



Terry Schilling


Executive Director


American Principles Project



Steven Ertelt


Editor


LifeNews.com


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