MRC Free Speech America has caught Google rigging search results for President-elect Donald Trump’s most prominent nominees before, and the search engine is at it yet again.
On Nov. 26 and Dec. 3, the MRC found an absurd ratio in favor of leftist and legacy media articles versus articles considered “right” or “lean right” by media ratings firm AllSides. On both dates, MRC researchers searched Google news tab and general search for the names of a number of top Trump nominations, and compared the news articles in the search results against the AllSides media bias list. For the Nov. 26 general search, there were 20 times more left-wing articles. On Dec. 3, U.S.-based "right" or "lean right" articles were also egregiously outnumbered as there were 18 times more leftist articles.
Despite making so little space for “right” or “lean right” articles, Google provided users with propaganda from Inside Climate News for both the Nov. 26 and Dec. 3 general search results. The Dec. 3 results included yet another climate change cult publication, The Daily Climate. Furthermore, Google’s Dec. 3 general search results did feature tiny anti-Israel publications such as the ScheerPost and MintPress News at the top of potential Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s results. Mintpress News called him the “most dangerous man alive,” while ScheerPost viciously attacked Rubio for being pro-Israel.
Google’s news tab results weren’t much better. When MRC researchers did searches for Trump’s nominees using Google’s news tab, Google displayed only 21 right-of-center U.S.-based news articles out of 200 news tab search results for the 20 nominees searched Nov. 26. And on Dec. 3, Google only displayed 18 right-of-center U.S.-based news articles out of 220 first-page results for the 22 nominees.
Google’s news tab search bias went beyond just stacking the deck with leftist and legacy media results such as MSNBC, The New Yorker, The Daily Beast, CNN, Rolling Stone, Mother Jones, The Associated Press, The New Republic, Teen Vogue, Newsweek, NPR and The New York Times in both the Nov. 26 and Dec. 3 searches.
Eleven of the 20 nominees were subjected to vicious headlines on Nov. 26, to say nothing of the content awaiting users who click on any of the above publications. For example, Google once again gave pride of placement to a vicious attack on Trump’s nominee for Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (RFK Jr.). After proudly displaying an article attacking RFK Jr. and his wife that urged her to divorce him last month, Google kicked off its “Top Stories” section in a search for RFK Jr. with an outrageous article by The Daily Beast. The wildly misleading headline suggested that the potential HHS Secretary endorses the use of heroin.
The Dec. 3 news tab search results were also littered with personal attacks in searches for Kennedy and at least 9 other Trump nominees. Google prominently featured hit pieces, including two by leftist rags Rolling Stone and MSNBC with headlines targeting the integrity of Kash Patel, Trump’s pick for FBI Director, and other nominees. And while Rolling Stone accused Patel of “MAGA Money Grabs,” MSNBC included Patel in an article headlined “Several Trump personnel picks have backgrounds in snake oil sales.”
Google’s news tab also stuffed the Dec. 3 news results with attacks and negative news coverage of Pete Hegseth, Trump’s nominee to head the Department of Defense. The platform even displayed a hit piece by the prestigious publication Teen Vogue on the first page of news search results for Linda McMahon, Trump’s appointment to lead the Department of Education.
In the case of Russell Vought, Trump’s chosen Office of Management Budget Director, Google stacked the news tab search results chock-full of leftist news like MSNBC, PBS and the Soros-funded leftist attack dog ProPublica. Soros-funded ProPublica went after Vought with this headline: “‘Put Them in Trauma:’ Inside a Key MAGA Leader’s Plans for a New Trump Agenda.” Additionally, these results sought to drive a wedge between Vought and Trump over Project 2025, a tactic also used against Trump’s choice for FCC Chair Brendan Carr. Google even featured a ludicrous article by The Hill, accusing Carr — one of MRC’s first Free Speech Award recipients — of threatening free speech.
Potential Secretary of Energy Christopher Wright was included in all searches, but Google consistently failed to identify him.
This study is the second time that MRC researchers have exposed Google’s biased presentation of Trump nominees. In a Nov. 21 study, Google provided news results without a single U.S.-based right-of-center article for 10 out of 14 nominees.
The MRC hasn’t just caught Google rigging results for Trump’s nominees. Google relentlessly interfered in the 2024 presidential election as well. A Sept. 6 MRC Free Speech America study demonstrated that Google required users to wade through a deluge of leftist news articles if they wanted to see Trump’s campaign website.
MRC researchers documented election interference on Oct. 1, Oct. 9, Oct. 15, Oct. 22, Oct. 30 and Election Day. An Oct. 9 study found that Google buried the first U.S.-based right-of-center result—a Fox News video—for users searching “donald trump presidential race 2024” on page 23. And nowhere on any of the 26 pages of results did a U.S.-based right-of-center news article appear.
Methodology
For this report, MRC Free Speech America analyzed the Nov. 26 and Dec. 3 Google Search and News tab results for the first and last names of a number of men and women nominated for cabinet-level positions in the second Trump administration as well as Trump’s choice for FCC chairman and Trump’s choice for FBI director. MRC Free Speech America created an algorithm to automate this process in a clean environment. A “clean environment” allows for organic search to populate results without the influence of prior search history and tracking cookies. MRC Free Speech America also utilized the AllSides media bias chart as a gauge to determine which outlets are “right” and “lean right.” AllSides notes it has a “patent on rating bias and use[s] multiple methodologies,” not a homogenous group or an algorithm. “Our methods are: Blind Bias Surveys of Americans, Editorial Reviews by a multipartisan team of panelists who look for common types of media bias, independent reviews, and third-party data.”
Readers should be aware that this report only uses the AllSides list to analyze ratings of outlets considered by AllSides to be “right” and “lean right” and does not necessarily reflect MRC’s characterizations of these outlets.
Nominees searched on Nov. 26 include: Pamela Bondi, Robert Kennedy Jr., Christopher Wright, Peter Hegseth, Kristi Noem, Marco Rubio, Douglas Collins, Sean Duffy, Douglas Burgum, Lori Chávez-DeRemer, Scott Bessent, Howard Lutnick, Brooke Rollins, Linda McMahon, Scott Turner, Lee Zeldin, Tulsi Gabbard, Russell Vought, Susan Wiles, Elise Stefanik and Brendan Carr.
Nominees searched on December 3 include: Kash Patel, Pamela Bondi, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Christopher Wright, Peter Hegseth, Kristi Noem, Marco Rubio, Doug Collins, Sean Duffy, Douglas Burgum, Lori Chávez-DeRemer, Scott Bessent, Howard Lutnick, Brooke Rollins, Linda McMahon, Scott Turner, Lee Zeldin, Tulsi Gabbard, Russell Vought, Susan Wiles, Elise Stefanik, Jamieson Greer and Brendan Carr.
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