Trump claims Big Tech is suppressing conservative voices
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President Trump seemed to float potential regulation for Big Tech platforms —specifically Google — in a Tuesday morning tweet, claiming that they suppress conservative voices and news.
"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 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!"
The big picture: Trump's tweet comes just weeks after Big Tech began a push against far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his website InfoWars — and a week before some of the top executives in Big Tech are set to head back to Capitol Hill.
Later Tuesday morning, Trump economic adviser Larry Kudlow was asked whether the administration thinks Google searches should be regulated. He told reporters: "We're taking a look at it."
Reality check from Axios' David McCabe: Nobody has presented strong evidence that the engineers at Silicon Valley companies manipulate algorithms to intentionally disadvantage conservatives because of a personal political bias, despite such claims being made for years.
Editor's note: This article has been updated to add Kudlow's response and the reality check paragraph.
