Julian Assange: ‘Google Works With Hillary Clinton’

“Julian Assange Says, Google Works With Hillary Clinton,” Open Media News, August 14, 2016:

The 2016 election cycle has been riddled with conspiracy theories. However, there have also been many truths labeled as conspiracy in order to thwart their extensive news coverage. One example many people may have missed, Julian Assange pointed out the close knit relationship between Google and Hillary Clinton. Other “conspiracy theories”  have pointed out that online services and social media have been intentionally bias through censorship or search manipulation.

Julian Assange, “Google is directly engaged with Hillary Clinton’s campaign”

In June, Julian Assange directly accused Google of working with the Clinton campaign. Assange was the audience at an international media forum held in Moscow when he made the statements. He also said that executives at the top of Google were personally involved with the Clinton campaign. Going as far as to say that individuals at the top of Google “almost certainly… will be placed into positions around the new Clinton presidency”.
Assange also pointed out that the CEO of Google, Erich Schmidt, specifically was collaborating with the Clinton campaign.

“The chairman of Google, Eric Schmidt, set up a company to run the digital component of Hillary Clinton’s campaign.”

The claim that Schmidt is working with the Clinton campaign is accurate. Schmidt launched a project called “The GroundWork”, which was meant to lead the effort of Silicon Valley to put Clinton in the White House. Efforts led by Schmidt included; “integrating vast amounts of information into a platform that will allow Clinton to raise money, coordinate volunteers and events, and plot get-out-the-vote efforts”. The Groundwork’s services for the Clinton campaign resulted in Schmidt’s project being the highest paid tech service used by the Clinton campaign in 2015.
So there is significant truth that top executives at Google are involved with the Clinton campaign, Schmidt being a clear example. However, Schmidt’s personal involvement does not prove that Google has been working in favor of Hillary. Are there other things to suggest that Google was colluding with the Clinton campaign?

Google Manipulated Unfavorable Searches on Hillary Clinton

At the beginning of June, an in-depth report by SourceFed made accusations that Google was looking to help Clinton’s candidacy by hiding negative results about Clinton. The video shown below is the full report, showcasing the distinct way in which Google appeared to be altering their search recommendations to favor Hillary Clinton.
SourceFed’s Matt Lieberman shows extensive examples as to how search recommendations were blatantly different than competitor search engines like Bing or Yahoo. Each time the recommendations were different, it was because any negative recommendations were completely hidden. Lieberman goes on to say:

“The intention is clear. Google is burying potential searches for terms that could have hurt Hillary Clinton in the primary elections over the past several months by manipulating recommendations on their site.”

But Lieberman does make a point that SourceFed was not saying that any crimes were committed by Google. Instead calling the altering of search data “deeply unethical and wrong, but not illegal”. Soon after the accusations, Google had adjusted the recommendations back to normal and in their own defense claimed that it was an error related to the difference in search algorithms.

Google Isn’t the Only One To Receive Backlash

Aside from Google, other popular tech and social media companies have been under fire for censorship during the election cycle. SourceFed’s report came shortly after Facebook had been accused of manipulating conservative-leaning “trending topics”. And as of July 19th, popular conservative personality and Breitbart Tech editor Milo Yiannopoulos was permanently banned from Twitter. This coincidentally was just moments before a “Gays for Trump” event host by Yiannopoulus at the RNC. Outrage ensued against Twitter as fans of Yiannopoulus responded to the permanent suspension of his account.
The suspension of accounts and censorship of social media is one thing, but the obvious double standard that is present is not to go unmentioned. Notably, Facebook pages advocating for the death of Donald Trump and Twitter accounts advocating for the murder of cops have often gone uncensored on both platforms. If people in support of Trump were to make articles or facebook pages inciting the same things that Anti-Trump people have, there would be massive outrage in the media and definite censorship.