Trump vows to prosecute google if re-elected

Former U.S. President and current Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, has accused Google of deliberately showing negative news stories about him, vowing to prosecute the tech giant if he returns to the White House in 2024.

In a post shared on his Truth Social platform on Friday, September 27, 2024, Trump claimed without evidence that Google displays only “bad stories” about him, while presenting positive articles about his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris.

“This is illegal activity, and I hope the Justice Department will criminally prosecute them for this blatant interference in elections,” Trump wrote. “If not, when I win the election, I will push for their prosecution to the maximum levels.”

Trump’s accusation followed a report from a conservative group alleging that searches for “Donald Trump presidential race 2024” returned unfavorable results. Google, however, responded to an inquiry from AFP, stating that both candidates’ websites consistently appear at the top of relevant searches.

“This report looked at a single, rare search term on a specific day a few weeks ago. Even for that search, both candidates’ websites ranked in the top results on Google,” the company said in its response. Google has maintained that it does not manipulate search results to favor any political figure or candidate.

Though the internal workings of Google’s search algorithms remain confidential, the company emphasized that factors such as timeliness and popularity of news topics naturally influence search results.

Trump is currently embroiled in multiple criminal and civil cases, facing allegations ranging from sexual abuse and hush-money payments to election interference and attempting to obstruct the peaceful transfer of power following his 2020 defeat to President Joe Biden.

Despite these legal battles, Trump remains a formidable figure in the Republican race for the 2024 presidential election, where he continues to target major tech companies and media outlets over claims of bias against him.