The former US president Donald Trump accuses Google of favoring negative news about him and positive coverage of Kamala Harris, vowing prosecution if re-elected.
On Friday, Donald Trump pledged to instruct the Justice Department to seek criminal charges against Google if he regains the presidency, accusing the company of unfairly promoting negative news stories about him while boosting positive coverage of his 2024 opponent, Kamala Harris.
Trump’s complaint, the latest in a series of threats he has made to leverage presidential power against perceived adversaries, was delivered in a sudden post on Truth Social.
"Google has been found to be illegally manipulating their search system to highlight bad stories about Donald J. Trump—some even fabricated—while showcasing only favorable stories about Comrade Kamala Harris," Trump claimed in the post.
"This constitutes ILLEGAL ACTIVITY, and I hope the Justice Department will criminally charge them for their blatant election interference. If they don`t, and subject to the laws of this country, I will push for their prosecution when I win the election and return as President," he added.
Trump did not acknowledge the possibility that there may have been more negative news about his campaign than Harris’s recently. The reason for his sudden outburst against Google was not immediately apparent.
Google has denied manipulating search results to favor any political party. In a statement, the company said, "Both campaign websites consistently appear at the top of search results for relevant and common queries."
However, conservative groups have long argued that Google’s search engine unfairly favors Democrats. The Media Research Center, a conservative watchdog, has previously released reports accusing Google of aiding Democrats.
The Trump campaign has also criticized Harris`s campaign for using Google’s "sponsored" feature to promote positive coverage, including stories from outlets like the Guardian, with headlines altered to favor Harris.
Trump’s comments about Google follow a pattern of him vowing to prosecute perceived political opponents. Earlier this month, he threatened to pursue charges against lawyers, donors, and political operatives he believes participated in alleged election fraud if he wins the 2024 election.
At a news conference on Thursday, Trump suggested that former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi should face criminal charges for not preventing the January 6 Capitol attack, which was incited by his supporters attempting to overturn the 2020 election.
During a rally in Michigan on Friday, Trump also called for a Republican attorney general to investigate Pelosi and her husband over allegations of stock sales before an antitrust lawsuit was filed against Visa.
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