Donald Trump has accused Google of rigging its search engine results so that most news about him is “bad”.
The US President ranted in a Twitter thread on Tuesday that the “National Left Wing Media” made up 96% of the results on “Trump news”.
He accused the online giant of not including Republican, Conservative and “fair” media, which he dubbed illegal.
He added: “This is a very serious situation – will be addressed.”
Google search results for “Trump News” shows only the viewing/reporting of Fake New Media. In other words, they have it RIGGED, for me & others, so that almost all stories & news is BAD. Fake CNN is prominent. Republican/Conservative & Fair Media is shut out. Illegal? 96% of…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 28, 2018
….results on “Trump News” are from National Left-Wing Media, very dangerous. Google & others are suppressing voices of Conservatives and hiding information and news that is good. They are controlling what we can & cannot see. This is a very serious situation-will be addressed!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 28, 2018
Trump regularly criticises any negative news media coverage of him, frequently using the term fake news to describe critical reports.
Political commentators in the US have pointed out that Trump’s Twitter rant comes shortly after right-wing PJ Media published an article suggesting Google was manipulating its algorithm to prioritise left-leaning news outlets.
Trump’s “96%” complaint about Google is from an article by right-wing PJ Media that has been making the rounds online in the last day. It complains that the News tab for Trump brings up…news sites…rather than right-wing opinion sites…like PJ Media. https://t.co/RfEM6a0PRmpic.twitter.com/HOfN7zyQm0
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) August 28, 2018
In the classic search of “why did Trump tweet X” it appears there was an article in Breitbart citing an unscientific PJ Media study of searching “Trump” on Google News…
— Hadas Gold (@Hadas_Gold) August 28, 2018
Trump has made social media, particularly Twitter, an integral part of his presidency.
On Friday he accused social media companies of silencing “millions of people” in an act of censorship, yet did not offer any evidence to support his claim.
Social Media Giants are silencing millions of people. Can’t do this even if it means we must continue to hear Fake News like CNN, whose ratings have suffered gravely. People have to figure out what is real, and what is not, without censorship!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 24, 2018
Trump’s accusation of bias on the part of Google comes as social media companies have suspended accounts, banned certain users and removed content as they face pressure from the US Congress to police foreign propaganda and fake accounts aimed at disrupting American politics, including operations tied to Iran and Russia.
Companies such as Facebook and Twitter have also faced pressure to remove conspiracy driven content and hate speech.
Earlier this month Trump criticised social media outlets saying without providing proof that unidentified companies were “totally discriminating against Republican/Conservative voices.”
In October 2016, he tweeted: “Wow, Twitter, Google and Facebook are burying the FBI criminal investigation of Clinton.”
In the past he has criticised Facebook for “always” being anti-Trump.
Google did not immediately respond to a HuffPost UK request for comment.
This content was originally published here.