Tag: Google

Google Employees Debated Burying Conservative Media in Search Results

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by Peter Hasson   Google employees debated whether to bury conservative media outlets in search results as a response to President Donald Trump’s election in 2016, internal Google communications obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation reveal. The Daily Caller and Breitbart were specifically singled out as outlets to potentially bury in search results, the communications reveal. Trump’s election in 2016 shocked many Google employees, who had been counting on Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton to win. Communications obtained by The DCNF show that internal Google discussions went beyond expressing remorse over Clinton’s loss to actually discussing ways Google could prevent Trump from winning again. “This was an election of false equivalencies, and Google, sadly, had a hand in it,” Google engineer Scott Byer wrote in a Nov. 9, 2016, post reviewed by The DCNF. Byer falsely labeled The Daily Caller and Breitbart as “opinion blogs” and urged his coworkers to reduce their visibility in search results. “How many times did you see the Election now card with items from opinion blogs (Breitbart, Daily Caller) elevated next to legitimate news organizations? That’s something that can and should be fixed,” Byer wrote. “I think we have a responsibility to expose the quality and…

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Google CEO to Testify Before Congress to Discuss Allegations of Conservative Censorship

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by Evie Fordham   Google CEO Sundar Pichai will testify before the House Judiciary Committee on Dec. 5 to answer questions about the company’s possible political bias, the committee announced. “Americans put their trust in big tech companies to honor freedom of speech and champion open dialogue, and it is Congress’ responsibility to the American people to make sure these tech giants are transparent and accountable in their practices,” committee chairman Rep. Bob Goodlatte, a Virginia Republican, said in a committee press release. Republican lawmakers criticized Pichai for skipping a Sept. 5 Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on social media and foreign election meddling. Facebook and Twitter executives testified, and an empty chair with a nameplate that said “Google” sat where the company’s representative would have been. The announcement of the social media-focused hearing comes as Google employees are making headlines for a Tuesday open letter protesting the company’s work on a censored Chinese search engine. “Today the company accounts for nearly 90 percent of worldwide search traffic. … Unfortunately, recent reports suggest Google might not be wielding its vast power impartially,” committee member and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said in the press release. “Its business practices may have been affected by political bias. Additionally, reports claim the company is…

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Commentary: Tech Giants Didn’t Deserve Public Trust in the First Place

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by Zachary Loeb   Amazon may have been expecting lots of public attention when it announced where it would establish its new headquarters – but like many technology companies recently, it probably didn’t anticipate how negative the response would be. In Amazon’s chosen territories of New York and Virginia, local politicians balked at taxpayer-funded enticements promised to the company. Journalists across the political spectrum panned the deals – and social media filled up with the voices of New Yorkers and Virginians pledging resistance. Similarly, revelations that Facebook exploited anti-Semitic conspiracy theories to undermine its critics’ legitimacy indicate that instead of changing, Facebook would rather go on the offensive. Even as Amazon and Apple saw their stock-market values briefly top US$1 trillion, technology executives were dragged before Congress, struggled to coherently take a stance on hate speech, got caught covering up sexual misconduct and saw their own employees protesting business deals. In some circles this is being seen as a loss of public trust in the technology firms that promised to remake the world – socially, environmentally and politically – or at least as frustration with the way these companies have changed the world. But the technology companies need to do…

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Google Search Says Republican Women Are Enablers

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by Peter Hasson   Republican women are “enablers,” according to Google search results. Google’s search results for the National Federation of Republican Women, the nation’s largest Republican women’s group, displayed the organization’s name instead as the “National Federation of Republican Enablers.” Google cited Wikipedia for the disparaging description, though Wikipedia’s page for the women’s group doesn’t contain that description. Wikipedia’s edit history shows on October 19 someone replaced the word “women” in the group’s name with “enablers.” The change lasted about five hours on Wikipedia before it was reversed. But three weeks after the digital vandalism was reversed on Wikipedia, Google’s “knowledge panel” about the Republican women’s group still described them as “enablers.” [ RELATED: Google Employees Sought To Manipulate Search Results To Fight Trump’s Travel Ban ] Google removed the knowledge panel after this article was published. Liberal writers and activists in recent months have attacked Republican women — and “white women” in particular — as gender traitors in league with the patriarchy. “There are tens of millions of American women who believe in the Republican Party’s values of individual liberty, personal responsibility and limited government,” NFRW President Jody Rushton told TheDCNF in a statement. “The notion that women…

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Facebook, Google Tools Reveal New Political Ad Tactics

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  Public databases that shine a light on online political ads – launched by Facebook and Google before Tuesday’s U.S. elections – offer the public the first broad view of how quickly the companies yank advertisements that break their rules. The databases also provided campaigns unprecedented insight into opponents’ online marketing, enabling them to capitalize on weaknesses, political strategists told Reuters. Facebook and Google, owned by Alphabet, introduced the databases this year to give details on some political ads bought on their services, a response to U.S. prosecutors’ allegations that Russian agents who deceptively interfered in the 2016 election purchased ads from the companies. Russia denies the charges. American security experts said the Russians changed tactics this year. Reuters found that Facebook and Google took down 436 ads from May through October related to 34 U.S. House of Representatives contests declared competitive last month by RealClearPolitics, which tracks political opinion polls. Of the 258 removed ads with start and end dates, ads remained on Google an average of eight days and Facebook 15 days, according to data Reuters collected from the databases. Based on ranges in the databases, the 436 ads were displayed up to 20.5 million times and cost…

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Google Employees Worldwide Stage #GoogleWalkout to Protest Company’s Handling of Sexual Misconduct

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by Evie Fordham   Google employees worldwide are staging walkouts Thursday to protest the company’s handling of sexual misconduct sparked by an Oct. 25 report by The New York Times about alleged misconduct by former Google executive Andy Rubin. Google employees in the northeast United States, India, the United Kingdom and other locations left their desks Thursday at 11:10 a.m. local time in response to a report that described big payouts to executives accused of sexual misconduct — including an allegation of forced oral sex — with Google employees or applicants. The Google NYC walkout has begun! There are lines to the packed stairwells — most have given up on packed elevators. #GoogleWalkout pic.twitter.com/4ywBpQxv6n — Google Walkout For Real Change (@GoogleWalkout) November 1, 2018 “We’re walking out in support of those who’ve been harassed anywhere in the workplace, and to ensure that perpetrators are not rewarded and are not protected,” Google employee Sam Dutton told CNN in London Thursday. A Google Walkout account retweeted photos from walkouts in New York City and Cambridge, Massachusetts, Thursday morning. The Twitter account, @GoogleWalkout, sprung up with a Wednesday tweet explaining protesters’ demands, which include: An end to Forced Arbitration in cases of harassment and discrimination. A commitment…

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Marsha Blackburn Casts Her Ballot in Franklin, Says Some Democrats Support Her

Chris Butler

FRANKLIN, Tennessee — Republican U.S. Senate candidate Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07) voted early Wednesday, with a sense of optimism and high hopes for next Tuesday’s election. Blackburn said she’s conversed with Democrats around the state who are on her side. She’s running against Democrat Phil Bredesen for the seat that current Republican Sen. Bob Corker will soon vacate. “I can’t begin to tell you how many individuals I have talked to who are Democrats, and many refer to themselves as Trump Democrats. They voted for the president because they support his agenda,” Blackburn said at a press conference after she voted at the Williamson County Admin Building. “They want to make certain that we continue to lower taxes and reduce regulation. Get the EPA off the farm and off the factory floor. They want to make certain we deal with the Affordable Care Act and get the cost of health insurance down. They talk regularly about my fight to keep taxes low. “We’ve got good bipartisan support. The nice thing is it grows every single day.”   As The Daily Caller reported this week, Google Ads announced that digital ads supporting Rep. Marsha Blackburn’s campaign, which included footage of protesters…

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Google+ to Shut Down After Data Breach Cover-Up Exposed

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by Gavin Hanson   Google announced the end of its social platform Google Plus after a Monday Wall Street Journal report detailed the cover-up of a breach that exposed users’ data. In a breach described as “Cambridge Analytica-style” by Financial Times social media and cyber security reporter Hannah Kuchler, Google Plus user data was exposed for hundreds of thousands of users. The WSJ report indicated that for a period of three years, personal data was accessible by hackers without a single indication from Google Plus or Google’s holding company, Alphabet, that anything was amiss. Google published a blog post Monday to explain the breach and the “sunsetting” of Google Plus. Google Plus has been partitioned into different functions since it became clear in 2015 that the app would not be able to compete with Facebook. Though some smaller portions of Google Plus will continue on, its consumer aimed, main portion is due to shut down over the course of the coming months. “To give people a full opportunity to transition, we will implement this wind-down over a 10-month period, slated for completion by the end of next August. Over the coming months, we will provide consumers with additional information, including ways they can download and migrate their data,” Ben Smith, a Google fellow…

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Senior Google Software Engineer Calls Marsha Blackburn ‘Terrorist’ and ‘Violent Thug,’ Supports Censorship

Jason M. Reynolds

A senior Google software engineer who oversees a key component of the search engine called U.S. Senate candidate Marsha Blackburn a “violent thug” and a “terrorist,” Breitbart News reported, citing internal emails it obtained. The employee also defended the censorship of her campaign ads on social media. Breitbart’s story is available here. The comments took place in an internal email discussion that began on June 19, Brietbart said. The topic of discussion was a Fox News op-ed by U.S. Representative Blackburn (R-TN), which urged tech companies to address bias against conservatives. Blackburn, who has been the target of social media censorship, has been a vocal critic of tech giants like Google, Facebook, and Twitter. Blake Lemoine, a senior software engineer at Google, said Blackburn was lying to the public. He accused her of “causing the deaths of people she claimed to protect” – referring to her work on two anti-trafficking bills, which has pushed most sex workers off Twitter. “We certainly shouldn’t acquiesce to the theatrical demands of a legislator who makes political hay by intentionally reducing the safety of the people who she claims to protect,” said Lemoine. “I’m not big on negotiation with terrorists.” Lemoine is a technical lead on Google’s…

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Google Video Leaked to Breitbart Confirms Tech Giant Wants to Destroy Trump Agenda

Anthony Gockowski

A new video leaked exclusively to Breitbart News Wednesday shows high-ranking Google executives plotting to use their tech resources to thwart the Trump agenda during an hour-long weekly rap session. The video, recorded during a 2016 “all hands” meeting at Google’s headquarters, features co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Vice Presidents Kent Walker and Eileen Naughton, CFO Ruth Porat, and CEO Sundar Pichai. At one point in the recording, Porat breaks down into tears and vows to “use the great strength and resources and reach we have to continue to advance really important values.” Naughton, meanwhile, assures Google employees in the audience that the company’s policy team in the nation’s capitol is “all over” the immigration issue and will continue to “keep a close watch on it,” later discussing options with employees who wish to leave the country. Brin, one of the company’s co-founders, states that “most people here are pretty upset and pretty sad,” saying she was “deeply offended” by President Donald Trump’s election, and adding that Trump’s agenda “conflicts with many of [Google’s] values.” “Fear, not just in the United States, but around the world is fueling concerns, xenophobia, hatred, and a desire for answers that may or…

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Report: Google And Mastercard Strike Secret Deal To Track Customers In-Store Purchases

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by Kyle Perisic   Google and Mastercard have reportedly struck a secret deal to monitor users’ in-store purchases, to collect data on what Google ads have resulted in purchases. After years of negotiations, Google paid Mastercard millions of dollars for its customer data, Bloomberg reported Thursday, citing two anonymous sources. The two could be sharing ad revenue, Bloomberg added but also reported a Google spokeswoman denied that claim. “People don’t expect what they buy physically in a store to be linked to what they are buying online,” said advocacy group Electronic Privacy Information Center’s Christine Bannan. “There’s just far too much burden that companies place on consumers and not enough responsibility being taken by companies to inform users what they’re doing and what rights they have.” Knowing which ads have resulted in purchases would make targeted ads — specialized ads tailored to specific individuals — much more valuable. Thus far, it has been almost impossible to tell if an online ad has resulted in a purchase. “Before we launched this beta product last year, we built a new, double-blind encryption technology that prevents both Google and our partners from viewing our respective users’ personally identifiable information,” Google said in a statement, according to Bloomberg.…

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Google, Microsoft, Facebook And Twitter Reveal ‘Data Transfer’ Partnership

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Google, Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft

by Eric Leiberman   Google, Microsoft, Twitter and Facebook are teaming up to provide users with the capability of transferring data across platforms and services, the latter two social media giants announced Friday morning. After heightened concerns over data utilization (even exploitation and manipulation), companies appear to be trying to give users at least a little more say over how their personal information is managed. The four U.S. tech giants want users to be empowered with the ability to seamlessly access their data across their multiple, respective platforms in an initiative known as the Data Transfer Project. “For example, you might use an app where you share photos publicly, a social networking app where you share updates with friends, and a fitness app for tracking your workouts,” Steve Satterfield, privacy and public policy director for Facebook, wrote Friday in a blog post. “People increasingly want to be able to move their data among different kinds of services like these, but they expect that the companies that help them do that will also protect their data.” Due to the inherent and proprietary differences of the companies’ technology, this wasn’t always an option. “Information that is housed on one platform can not be easily and securely…

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California Congresswoman Says There’s No Bias Against Conservatives In Tech – Here’s Why She’s Wrong

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Zoe Lofgren

by Kyle Perisic   A Democratic congresswoman said on Tuesday that conservatives and Republicans’ concerns over bias on the Facebook, Google, and Twitter platforms are unjustified. Here’s proof she’s wrong. Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California said at a hearing addressing political discrimination against conservatives and Republicans on Facebook, Google, and Twitter, which dominant Internet traffic, is “motivated by a sense of persecution, on the part of Republicans and conservatives that somehow they’re being unfairly treated when they have a majority in House, the Senate, the White House.” Despite the hearing specifically addressing discrimination against conservatives on the Facebook, Google, and Twitter platforms — not on their conservative news sites — Lofgren brought up “conservative news sites have three times more user engagement that liberals do.” “There’s been no evidence whatsoever that I have seen and that the majority has been able to provide that there’s any bias whatsoever,” she added. YouTube, a subsidiary of Google’s parent company Alphabet, admitted in March it “may misapply some of our policies resulting in mistaken removals,” which in this case involved a number of conservative channels being removed from the platform, The Daily Caller News Foundation reported. Additionally, Google, utilizing Wikipedia, mislabeled a Republican candidate…

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Commentary: Should Congress Break Social Media’s Stranglehold on Free Speech?

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US Capitol at night

by Jeffery Rendall   Strolling towards the capitol on one of our recent trips to Williamsburg, Virginia, a thought struck me as we neared the reconstructed building; so much went on inside those walls but the people in the street had nary a clue about what was happening at the time. Sure, there were three newspapers in town (in the late 18th century), but they were somewhat crude enterprises by today’s standards, receiving and reprinting tidbits of intelligence from townspeople, passers through, other newspapers and let’s face it – plain gossip and hearsay. Just steps away great men were debating and deciding everyone’s future yet few common folk understood what was taking place except for what the men – or the royal governor and his council – chose to divulge. Not even the town crier was much help in this regard. Fast forward to today when practically everything that’s “official” is a matter of public record. Granted the government and its agents still keep plenty of secrets – the fallout from the Mueller investigation certainly revealed it – but we know a lot more than the Virginians of the 1760’s and 70’s did. Heck, they were about to sever ties with the…

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Google Withdraws As Host Of Democratic Fundraising Event

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Google withdraws from Dem Fundraiser

by Eric Lieberman   Google was set to rent out its D.C. headquarters to a progressive group running a fundraiser for top Senate Democrats, but canceled it Friday just days before. The group “Run For Something” cultivates up-and-coming Democrats for all levels of government. Its event, “Party For Something,” was supposed to occur June 6 at a location only disclosed if tickets ($100 to $1,000) were purchased. “Important note! Confirmation of the date, time, and venue will be in your donation receipt,” reads the website, which also says “Location available upon RSVP” elsewhere. “No need to print anything; just check in with ID when you arrive.” The venue likely shows up as something different now since Google confirmed to The Daily Caller News Foundation that the event was occurring at its offices in the nation’s capital, and subsequently that it was canceled since leadership had allegedly just become aware. “June 6th: Games, drinks and building the bench with Senators Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand & Cory Booker!!” the invite states at the top. “Why? Because Run For Something set a goal of recruiting 50,000 new voices this year to run for office — and you want to help make it happen.” Google representatives declined…

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Commentary: Good Riddance to ‘Net Neutrality’ That Was Anything But Neutral

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by Jeffrey Tucker   At long last, with the end of “net neutrality,” competition could soon come to the industry that delivers Internet services to you. You might be able to pick among a range of packages, some minimalist and some maximalist, depending on how you use the service. Or you could choose a package that charges based only on what you consume, rather than sharing fees with everyone else. Internet socialism is dead; long live market forces. With market-based pricing finally permitted, we could see new entrants to the industry because it might make economic sense for the first time to innovate. The growing competition will lead, over the long run, to innovation and falling prices. Consumers will find themselves in the driver’s seat rather than crawling and begging for service and paying whatever the provider demands. Ajit Pai, chairman of the FCC, is exactly right. “Under my proposal, the federal government will stop micromanaging the internet. Instead, the F.C.C. would simply require internet service providers to be transparent about their practices so that consumers can buy the service plan that’s best for them.” A Fed for Communication The old rules pushed by the Obama administration had locked down…

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Oil and Gas Industry Pushes Back: Google Asked to Label Anti-Fracking Websites as ‘Fake News’

Tennessee Star Staff

An oil and gas drilling advocacy group published an open letter to Google asking the search engine giant to consider “purging or demoting” websites spreading misinformation about hydraulic fracturing. Google rewrote its search engine algorithm to bury “fake news” websites in the wake of the 2016 presidential election. The industry-funded Texans for Natural Gas wants Google…

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Here is How Google Celebrated Easter Sunday

Tennessee Star Staff

New media and search engine giant Google celebrated Easter Sunday 2017 the same way it has celebrated Easter for years. Not at all. A.J. Delgado, writing at Mediaite, remarked on Google’s disinterest in Easter Sunday back in 2013. Google’s homepage is known for its ‘Doodles‘ — temporary changes to its homepage logo to commemorate certain days. As defined by Google, its homepage changes are meant “to celebrate holidays, anniversaries, and the lives of famous artists, pioneers, and scientists.” But on Easter Sunday, a day celebrated by over one billion around the world and by the vast majority of Americans, Google’s homepage is mum on the holiday. Instead, Google chose to commemorate Big Labor icon Cesar Chavez. (In 2011, President Obama designated March 31 as Cesar Chavez day.) Google’s official position over the Easter Sunday-Cesar Chavez controversy in 2013  was “it’s difficult for us to choose,” as the Washington Post reported at the time. Among the holidays the company regularly celebrates with Google Doodles, other than Easter Sunday, are Earth Day, Martin Luther King Day, Lunar New Year, Halloween, St. Patrick’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. The first Google Doodle, celebrating the annual Burning Man event, appeared in 1998. Since…

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