Alphabet Inc.’s Google battled accusations that it manipulates its predicted-searches function to favor Hillary Clinton, the latest dust-up over the influence large tech companies exert in modern life.
The Wall Street Journal reports the pop-culture news website SourceFed posted a video Thursday alleging that Google’s autocomplete service, which tries to predict queries as users type, is biased toward Mrs. Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
SourceFed, which is owned by Discovery Communications Inc., showed that typing “Hillary Clinton cri” into a Google search box yielded suggested queries related to crime reform, crisis, and a crime bill. It didn’t include the suggested search “Hillary Clinton crimes,” although Google statistics show that search is more common than the suggested queries.
Google said in a statement: “Google autocomplete does not favor any candidate or cause. Claims to the contrary simply misunderstand how autocomplete works.”
Google said the autocomplete software won’t show “a predicted query that is offensive or disparaging when displayed in conjunction with a person’s name.” A person familiar with the software said the word “crimes” is included in the list of offensive terms. The person added that suggested queries are produced from a number of factors beyond the popularity of searches, including users’ search histories and their locations.
The incident highlights the increasing role tech companies such as Google play as gatekeepers to news and information. Google has long maintained that its search engine is objective, but it has for years faced accusations that it skews results to favor its services over competitors.
Bing is better anyway.
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