Google says that it did promote President Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech on its homepage in 2018, countering a video he tweeted alongside the hashtag StopTheBias.
President Trump continued his accusations about Google’s anti-conservative bias on Wednesday by tweeting a video that appeared to show how Google promoted former president Barack Obama’s State of the Union Address on its homepage during his presidency, while skipping the same promotion for Trump’s speeches in 2017 and 2018.
The President’s latest statements reflect a broader view among conservatives that digital platforms like Google, Facebook, and Twitter are censoring them and as calls for regulation against those platforms heats up in government. However, experts tell CNBC that Trump’s accusations may help weaken the arguments for regulation if they lack reason or data.
When asked about the apparent discrepancy highlighted in Trump’s tweet, Google explained that Trump’s inaugural speech in 2017 was not technically a State of the Union speech. Similarly, it did not promote Obama’s inaugural speech on its homepage in 2009.