Donald Trump threatened on Friday to sue Google if elected president of the United States, accusing the technology group of putting forward articles unfavorable to him for the benefit of Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.
• Also read: Trump vows to ‘resolve’ Ukraine war after meeting with Zelensky
• Also read: Donald Trump advantaged by “the question of the ballot box”, says Jean-Marc Léger
The billionaire has regularly criticized technology giants for leaning to the left and seeking to put obstacles in his way.
He particularly attacked Facebook and Twitter, after the platforms suspended his accounts following the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021. Both have since lifted this suspension.
“It has been established that Google illegally used a system to only offer negative publications for Donald J. Trump, some invented for the occasion,” wrote the Republican candidate on his Truth Social network.
“At the same time,” Google “only presents positive things about comrade Kamala Harris,” continued Donald Trump, using the nickname he uses to describe the vice-president as a communist.
He was referring to a study published by the Media Research Center (MRC) observatory, close to conservative circles.
According to it, the query “Donald Trump presidential race 2024” only brings out the official website of the Republican candidate in sixth position, behind links to information sites that MRC classifies on the left.
Photo AFP
Among them are the New York Times and the Washington Post.
An MRC observer claimed that articles on these sites had titles that were “contemptuous” of Donald Trump.
The former head of state ordered the Ministry of Justice to take up this issue, failing which he promised to do so himself in the event of victory in the presidential election on November 5.
Asked by AFP, Google affirmed that the official sites of the two candidates appeared most of the time at the top of the results for an ordinary search on the election, estimating that this was not the case for the query used by the MRC .
“We absolutely do not manipulate the results in favor of any candidate,” assured Google.
