Did Google Manipulate Search for Hillary?

Last updated
Did Google Manipulate Search for Hillary?
StarringMatt Lieberman
Release date
  • June 9, 2016 (2016-06-09)
Running time
7:09
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

"Did Google Manipulate Search for Hillary?" is a 2016 YouTube video uploaded by SourceFed.

Contents

Background and release

Released on June 9, 2016, "Did Google Manipulate Search for Hillary?" featured SourceFed host Matt Lieberman discussing whether or not Google manipulated search results to display Hillary Clinton in an untruthful positive light. [‡ 1] At the time, Clinton was the Democratic Party's presumptive nominee for President of the United States in the 2016 election.

The video's original description stated that production on the video began "while researching for a wrap-up on the June 7 Presidential Primaries." [‡ 1] It was part of the channel's SourceFed News series; hosts on the channel referred to these uploads as "white wall" videos, as they featured one or two hosts discussing news stories against a white background. [1] Matt Lieberman, the host for the video, suggested that Google's autofill feature pulls up results for Clinton's crime reform, despite "hillary clinton crime" being a more popular search term than "Hillary Clinton crime reform". [2] During the video, Lieberman stated, "Thanks to the help of our editor Spencer Reed, SourceFed has discovered that Google has been actively altering search recommendations in favor of Hillary Clinton's campaign so quietly that we were unable to see it for what it was until today." [3]

Lieberman did emphasize that SourceFed was not accusing Google of any crimes, instead calling the manipulation "deeply unethical and wrong but not illegal." [3] Lieberman also added that there is no evidence to suggest collusion between the Clinton campaign and Google, [3] but went on to claim that "the intention is clear: Google is burying potential searches for terms that could have hurt Hillary Clinton in the primary elections over the past several months." [2]

Reception

The video attracted considerably more media attention than other SourceFed uploads, as it was referred to in posts by USA Today , The Washington Times , Business Insider , and The Globe and Mail , among other outlets. [2] [3] [4] [5] Shane Dingman, writing for The Globe and Mail opined that "This conspiracy theory post is not typical fare for comedy-focused SourceFed to offer its 1.7 million subscribers." [5] Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times wrote that the "conspiracy theory [about Google suppressing negative news in search results about Hillary Clinton] began with a video from the online outlet SourceFed that went viral this year, and quickly garnered headlines on conservative news sites like Breitbart and InfoWars ." [6] Business Insider replicated the experiment shown in the video and found similar results. [7]

The video's claims also drew responses from Donald Trump, who at the time was the Republican Party's presumptive nominee for President of United States. Trump stated that if SourceFed's claims were true, "it is a disgrace that Google would do that." [7]

SourceFed creator Philip DeFranco accounted that many of his fans wanted to know his thoughts on the video, due to his past ties with SourceFed. [‡ 2] In his response, he clarified that he had no creative control on the channel's uploads, and went on to say that the video's claims were "potentially concerning," adding "I think and I'm hoping that there's a non-nefarious explanation, [...] personally, I would love to hear from Google if they would issue a statement on this." [‡ 2]

Google also responded, defending its search engine; one representative of the company stated "Google Autocomplete does not favor any candidate or cause. Claims to the contrary simply misunderstand how Autocomplete works. Our Autocomplete algorithm will not show a predicted query that is offensive or disparaging when displayed in conjunction with a person's name." [4] Matt Cutts, Google's former head of their web spam team, called the video's claims "simply false." [2] [4] Cutts also reported that SourceFed did not reach out to Google prior to uploading their video. [4] A Snopes fact check on the video rated its claims as "false". [8]

The video ultimately attracted over 1 million views, before being made private. [‡ 1] SourceFed uploaded a follow-up video, featuring Lieberman responding to the reception that the video received. [9] [‡ 3]

References

  1. ↑ Cohen, Joshua Cohen (May 16, 2013). "SourceFed Launches Spinoff YouTube Channel, SourceFed Nerd". Tubefilter . Retrieved August 16, 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Akhtar, Allana (June 10, 2016). "Google defends its search engine against charges it favors Clinton". USA Today . Retrieved June 13, 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Richardson, Valerie (June 9, 2016). "Google accused of manipulating searches, burying negative stories about Hillary Clinton". The Washington Times . Retrieved June 13, 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Leswing, Kif (June 10, 2016). "Google says charges of altering search results to help Hillary Clinton are 'simply false'". Business Insider . Retrieved June 13, 2016.
  5. 1 2 Dingman, Shane (June 10, 2016). "Google accused of 'biased' search results favouring Clinton". The Globe and Mail . Retrieved June 13, 2016.
  6. ↑ Corasaniti, Nick (September 29, 2016). "Donald Trump Pushes Debunked Theory That Google Suppressed Rival's Bad News". The New York Times . Retrieved March 26, 2017.
  7. 1 2 Smith, Allan (June 10, 2016). "'If this is true, it is a disgrace': Donald Trump responds to viral video claiming Google's search is biased". Business Insider . Retrieved August 16, 2022.
  8. ↑ Evon, Dan (June 10, 2016). "Does This Video Document Google Manipulating Searches for Hillary Clinton?". Snopes . Retrieved April 16, 2023.
  9. ↑ Kastrenakes, Jacob (June 10, 2016). "Google denies altering search suggestions for Hillary Clinton". The Verge . Retrieved April 16, 2023.
Primary sources
  1. 1 2 3 Did Google Manipulate Search for Hillary?. SourceFed. June 9, 2016. Archived from the original on June 9, 2016. Retrieved June 13, 2016– via YouTube.
  2. 1 2 DeFranco, Philip (June 9, 2016). GUESS WHO GOT BEAT UP LAST NIGHT?! …and there's video of it. OUCH!. The Philip DeFranco Show . Retrieved June 13, 2016– via YouTube.
  3. ↑ SourceFed Responds: Google + Clinton Follow Up. SourceFed. June 10, 2016. Retrieved April 16, 2023– via YouTube.
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