In this episode of the PBD Podcast, Patrick Bet-David and Brent Bozell of the Media Research Center explore big tech's potential influence on elections. They discuss studies alleging suppression of conservative candidates in Google search results and censorship of stories, such as the Hunter Biden laptop controversy, by major platforms like Twitter.
The conversation also centers around tech giants' unprecedented power, market dominance, and perceived political bias among their largely liberal workforce. Bet-David and Bozell speculate on interference tactics, including biased fact-checking and censorship policies, that could sway the 2024 elections and raise concerns about the implications for electoral integrity.
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Patrick Bet-David raises concerns about tech giants like Google allegedly interfering in elections, often favoring Democratic candidates.
The Media Research Center (MRC) study claimed Google interfered 41 times over 16 years, pushing 39 Republican candidates lower in search results. Bet-David also found searches for "Trump or Biden 2024" yielded mostly left-leaning sources.
Brent Bozell argues big tech acts like publishers picking election winners while enjoying legal protections meant for neutral platforms, unlike media companies vulnerable to defamation suits.
Bozell highlights Google's 92% market share globally, making competition from smaller players like Microsoft's Bing (2% share) very difficult. Big players often acquire potential rivals to eliminate competition.
Bet-David and Bozell discuss tech's ability to limit the spread of news damaging to certain political parties.
Bet-David mentions the 2020 censorship of the Hunter Biden laptop story by tech companies, which Bozell claims was due to claims of Russian collusion from the Justice Department.
The discussion implies "fact-checking" policies may serve as tools for big tech to censor content.
The debate touches on a predominant liberal bias among big tech employees, which may influence platforms like Google.
Per Open Secrets data, employees at major tech firms like Netflix, Twitter, Airbnb, Apple overwhelmingly donated over 90% to Democratic candidates in recent elections.
Discussing potential 2024 interference tactics, Bet-David and Bozell focus on Twitter actions, while Oshana brings up immigration and voting rules.
Bet-David suggests tech firms may silence stories benefiting Republicans like Trump, following Twitter's suppression of the Hunter Biden story in 2020.
Bozell anticipates continued "fact-checking" practices by tech firms to disadvantage Republican candidates while shielding Democrats.
While praising Musk's professed openness, Bozell worries Twitter employees' biases could undermine this through tactics like shadow banning conservatives.
Oshana ties Musk's border concerns to voting integrity issues. Bozell criticizes opposition to stricter voter ID requirements, implying an agenda to enable illegal voting.
1-Page Summary
Recent discussions and studies suggest that tech companies, particularly Google, may be exerting an undue and pervasive influence on election outcomes, raising questions about fairness and accountability in the digital age.
The power of Google searches to sway voter decisions is under scrutiny, with evidence pointing to a potential bias in search result listings.
Patrick Bet-David refers to a Media Research Center (MRC) report that alleges Google has interfered in elections 41 times over the past 16 years, often favoring Democratic candidates. The MRC study found that in the 22 most contested Senate races, an overwhelming majority of Republican candidates were pushed to the bottom of the first search page or to the less-viewed second page. Rick Santorum experienced a smear on Google, which was not remedied even after he requested it be taken down. Moreover, the MRC claimed that while Google censored Hillary Clinton in favor of Barack Obama during the 2008 campaign, it supported Clinton in the 2016 election. Out of 41 instances identified by MRC, two involved Democrats, and 39 involved Republicans.
Bet-David also points to a more direct test, searching for "Trump or Biden 2024" and observing that the sources in the search results were predominantly left-leaning, with none from Fox News, interpreted as an indication of bias.
Brent Bozell highlights the discrepancy in accountability faced by tech companies compared to traditional publishers. He argues that companies like Google and Facebook are effectively picking winners and losers in elections without being held to the same legal standards. These companies enjoy the legal protections afforded ...
Tech companies' influence on elections
Patrick Bet-David and Brent Bozell discuss how major tech companies have the ability to limit the spread of news stories, particularly those that might be damaging to particular political figures or parties.
During the conversation, it is mentioned that during the 2020 elections, the story from the New York Post about Hunter Biden's laptop was censored by tech companies. Bozell brings up the incident, noting it as an example of how censorship is executed and stating that it was censored due to claims from the Justice Department about Russian collusion.
Although no information is provided in the transcript chunk regarding "fact-checking," the broader dialogue suggests that big tech's polic ...
Censorship and suppression of news and opinions by big tech companies
The podcast discussion touches on the political leanings of big tech employees, suggesting that search results from platforms like Google may be influenced by a predominant Democratic bias among the workforce, even though exact figures or direct claims about political donations or affiliations aren't specified in the shared content.
The debate references a report from Open Secrets, which shows employee donation data by party affiliation during midterm elections.
According to the report, tech company employees demonstrated a significant preference for Democratic candidates in their political contributions. Netflix employees nearly unanimously supported Democratic candidates, while Twitter, Airbnb, Apple, Stripe, Lyft, Google (Alphabet), Salesforce, and Facebook all saw over 90% of contributions going to the left, indicating ...
Political bias of big tech employees skewed heavily Democratic
As the 2024 election campaign draws near, Patrick Bet-David and Brent Bozell discuss potential tactics for election interference by big tech companies, focusing on Twitter's actions, while Vincent Oshana brings up immigration and voting regulations.
Patrick Bet-David references Twitter's suppression of the New York Post story during the 2020 elections as a model for what could occur in the 2024 campaign. He suggests that tech companies are inclined to silence certain stories, indicating that companies like Twitter might prevent dissemination of information that could benefit candidates like Trump.
Brent Bozell anticipates that tech companies may continue practices of censorship and so-called "fact-checking" to sway the next presidential campaign. He suggests such actions could work against Republican candidates and shield Democrats from stories that might embarrass them.
Despite Elon Musk's commitment to open dialogue on Twitter, Brent Bozell worries that Musk's aspirations could be limited by Twitter employees' biases. Bozell raises the issue of shadow banning by Twitter's staff, which he claims particularly targets conservative Republicans, as an indication of these biases.
Vincent Oshana touches upon Elon M ...
Likely big tech election interference tactics in 2024 campaign
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