A startling new report surfaced this week revealing that China’s communist regime hacked into U.S. voter registration databases in 2020 and planned to use the information to produce thousands of fake American driver’s licenses in order to obtain mail-in ballots, with the purpose of casting fraudulent votes for former President Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.
Just the News reported Monday on the recent reemergence of a highly redacted formerly classified memo produced by the National Intelligence Council in April 2020, which stated, “[Redacted] Chinese intelligence officials analyzed multiple U.S. states’ [Redacted] election voter registration data, [Redacted] to conduct public opinion analysis on the 2020 US general election.” Two years after it was produced, the memo was quietly declassified by former Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines.
But even after it was released, Just the News noted that the memo failed to gain attention, in stark contrast to the aftermath that occurred in March 2024 after it was discovered that Beijing had hacked into the U.K.’s databases and accessed the personal files of millions of Brits, causing widespread outrage. Now, the rediscovered memo could have significant implications for U.S. lawmakers as they consider the SAVE America Act, a bill currently being debated in the Senate that would require potential voters across the nation to present identification and proof of citizenship before being allowed to vote in federal elections.
The data that was reportedly obtained by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) operatives included driver’s license data and partial Social Security numbers, which can be used to make absentee ballot requests and to cast fraudulent ballots in person. According to Just the News, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is currently “working to declassify raw reports” on the CCP’s breach “for potential public dissemination.”
In June of last year, FBI Director Kash Patel made public an intelligence report from 2020 that warned the CCP was planning to mass-produce fraudulent U.S. driver’s licenses to obtain mail-in ballots, which the communist regime planned to cast for Biden, since he was considered more favorable to Beijing’s interests. According to a report from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) from July 2020, the CCP’s plan seemed to be taking shape as CBP officers “seized 1,513 shipments with fraudulent documents — a total of 19,888 counterfeit US drivers’ licenses” at the Chicago O’Hare International Airport, with “the majority of these shipments … arriving from China and Hong Kong.”
Experts like author Gordon Chang, who serves as a distinguished senior fellow at the Gatestone Institute, say they are not surprised by reports of the CCP’s hacking efforts to subvert U.S. elections.
“They are in virtually every network in the United States that they want to be,” he told The Washington Stand. “So of course they’re messing in our elections. This should not be considered news. This is something we should have been acting on a long time ago.”
Chang went on to observe that legislation like the SAVE America Act will help to strengthen election integrity but argued that more fundamental reforms of the U.S.’s election processes are needed.
“The SAVE America Act will help, of course, but only marginally,” he contended. “It basically relates to people who actually show up and vote, so maybe it’ll help. Maybe China could manipulate voting rolls and orchestrate people to show up. But I don’t think that’s the issue. I’ve always thought that we should have paper ballots. We shouldn’t have election stuff online. It’s just an invitation to have the Chinese or others mess with our elections. The Taiwanese run nearly flawless elections because they just use paper ballots, and they count the votes in front of everyone. Why can’t we do this?”
Chang concluded by emphasizing that while U.S. networks could be better defended from CCP cyberattacks, “ultimately our election machinery should not be online. And if it takes a couple days more in order to determine who the winner is, well, that’s fine, because that’s the cost of having election integrity.”
“This is just us opening up our electoral system to interference not only by domestic parties, but by foreign parties as well,” he added. “So this is on us.”
The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/China-Hacked-U.S.-Voter-Databases.jpg336640Family Research Councilhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngFamily Research Council2026-03-19 12:13:472026-03-19 12:15:09Report: China Hacked U.S. Voter Databases in 2020 to Fraudulently Obtain Mail-in Ballots
A new report has revealed that dozens of Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-backed nonprofit organizations in New York City are illegally undermining local candidates for public office who support Taiwan and Hong Kong democracy and endorsing others who hold pro-CCP views. Experts say the Trump administration should take action to dissolve any organizations based in the U.S. that are linked to the communist regime.
The New York Times published an exposé Monday detailing how organizations known as “hometown associations,” which outwardly claim to serve as a kind of “heritage club” in cities with large populations of immigrants in order to “welcome newcomers, organize parades and foster social connections,” in reality have deep connections to the CCP via China’s consulate located in Midtown Manhattan. Some of these associations include the American Fujian Houyu Association, the American Jin Feng Federation, the Fujian Foundation in USA, the Wenshang Association, and the American Lianjiang Association, among many others.
CCP officials that work for the consulate have such an iron grip on the hometown associations that they have led dozens of ceremonies hosted by the associations, in which the members pledge oaths of loyalty to the “motherland,” recite vows to promote “reunification” with Taiwan, and sing “My Chinese Heart,” which the NYT notes is “a popular patriotic ballad in China.”
As the NYT discovered, consulate officials have also enlisted many of the hometown associations to undermine the political campaigns of multiple local candidates running for public office who hold views that are disfavored by the CCP, including supporting Taiwan’s independence, supporting democracy in Hong Kong, or criticizing the Xi Jinping regime.
In one instance, a hometown association leader helped to sabotage the congressional campaign of Yan Xiong, a U.S. citizen and retired Army chaplain, who planned to run in a district that included Chinatown, Manhattan, and Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Xiong had helped to lead the student protests in 1989 that led to the Tiananmen Square massacre, and had spent two years in a Beijing prison. Jimmy Cheng, who led the United Fujianese of America Association in New York City and claimed that he could deliver 3,000 votes to Xiong, “duped him into being photographed in front of a backdrop claiming he opposed the creation of a museum honoring Tiananmen Square victims.” CCP operatives then spread the photo on the internet, and Xiong ended up losing the primary.
In other instances, hometown associations helped to unseat a state senator as retribution for attending a banquet in honor of the president of Taiwan, and also spread photos on social media of a New York City Council candidate at a 2023 rally supporting the democracy movement in Hong Kong, which led to the candidate’s eventual loss after numerous hometown groups threw their support behind a pro-CCP candidate.
Meanwhile, at least nine hometown associations in NYC are also endorsing the reelection campaign of Mayor Eric Adams (D). As the NYT discovered, at least 19 out of 53 associations that have direct ties to the CCP are registered as charities and classify themselves as tax-exempt nonprofit organizations, while at the same time endorsing political candidates and hosting fundraisers for them. But experts like Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer, a law professor at Notre Dame, say that this is “a clear violation of the limits that Congress has put on their tax-exempt status.”
The hometown groups even hold influence over New York’s top elected official, Governor Kathy Hochul (D). As the NYT reported, the Asian American Community Empowerment nonprofit held a fundraiser for Hochul in December 2021. Two months later, Hochul “announced that $10 million in pandemic aid would be distributed to dozens of Asian groups,” including $45,000 for Asian American Community Empowerment.
Experts like Gordon Chang, who is an author and serves as a distinguished senior fellow at the Gatestone Institute, say that the Trump administration should take direct action to shut down any entity with clear ties to Xi Jinping’s communist regime.
“The Communist Party’s United Front Work Department has thoroughly infiltrated the Chinese-American community in New York,” he told The Washington Stand. “The CCP has, among other things, been illegally interfering in elections, corrupting politicians and others. This is the poisoning of our country.”
Chang continued, “The solution is clear: Close China’s New York consulate for continually violating our sovereignty, expel the diplomats stationed there, disband the ‘hometown associations’ and similar organizations, investigate the officers and employees of these groups, deport communist sympathizers who are not citizens, and break up the networks of China’s operatives and agents operating in our country.”
“Our enemies are here and operating openly,” he added. “We need, to borrow a CCP phrase, to ‘strike hard.’ This is our country. Why do we put up with this?”
The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/CCP-Linked-Orgs-TWS.jpg336640Family Research Councilhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngFamily Research Council2025-08-26 11:06:182025-08-26 11:08:12Report: CCP-Linked Orgs Hold Vast Sway over Local Elections in NYC
“The Hatch Act, a federal law passed in 1939, limits political activities of federal employees and federal agencies, as well as some state, D.C., and including local government employees who work in connection with federally funded programs. The law’s purposes are to ensure that federal programs are administered in a nonpartisan fashion”
What follows, in effect, is an illegal campaign donation from an executive federal agency; namely, to benefit the the Harris-Walz, campaign.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 15, 2024
Contact: HHS Press Office
202-690-6343
media@hhs.gov
The Biden-Harris Administration delivers on promise to lower prescription drug costs for Americans
In a historic moment that will help lower prescription drug prices for millions of people across America, the Biden-Harris Administration announced that it has reached agreements for new, lower prices for all 10 drugs selected for negotiations. These negotiated drugs are some of the most expensive and most frequently dispensed drugs in the Medicare program and are used to treat conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. The new prices will go into effect for people with Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage beginning January 1, 2026.
If the new prices had been in effect last year, Medicare would have saved an estimated $6 billion, or approximately 22 percent, across the 10 selected drugs. These negotiated prices range from 38 to 79 percent discounts off of list prices. About nine million people with Medicare use at least one of the 10 drugs selected for negotiation. People with Medicare prescription drug coverage are expected to see aggregated estimated savings of $1.5 billion in their personal out-of-pocket costs in 2026.
In the wake of a congressional hearing on Tuesday that delved into the ways in which the Small Business Administration (SBA) under President Joe Biden has appeared to engage in electioneering, lawmakers and experts are pointing out the “lawless” nature of the practice as the November elections approach.
The hearing, conducted by the House Committee on Small Business, sought to expose how taxpayer funds are being used by the SBA for voter registration efforts in violation of federal law.
In March 2021, Biden signed an executive order stating that federal agencies “shall evaluate ways” to “promote voter registration and voter participation,” including “soliciting and facilitating approved, nonpartisan third-party organizations and State officials to provide voter registration services on agency premises.” As has since been uncovered, this EO has led to the SBA signing official agreements with the Michigan Department of State (MDOS) to fund voter registration efforts.
But as GOP lawmakers are highlighting, it just so happens that Michigan is a key battleground state that will play a vital role in electing the next president in November.
During the hearing, Committee Chairman Roger Williams (R-Texas) pointed out that the SBA “entangled itself in electioneering activities that not only lack a constitutional basis, but also betray the trust and purpose for which the Agency was established.” He went on to note that instead of pursuing policies that help small businesses, the SBA has “decided to dedicate their staff’s time and resources to register voters in a key swing seat ahead of the 2024 election.”
Stewart Whitson, senior director of Federal Affairs at the Foundation for Government Accountability, further detailed the likely underlying purpose behind the SBA’s efforts in Michigan. “The worry is that this isn’t about registering small business owners across the state of Michigan, but rather, this is about using generous business startup and other grants to lure targeted groups of voters, those the Left believes are more likely to vote for the current president, to SBA’s website and to in-person outreach events hosted in Democratic strongholds, all to help register and mobilize these voters ahead of the 2024 election,” he stated.
Rep. Pete Stauber (R-Minn.) also noted how the SBA suspiciously concentrated its voter registration efforts in southern Michigan instead of the upper peninsula, where there are more small businesses per capita. “But you know what? That’s red country, that’s Republicans up there,” he observed. “This is clearly for political purposes, and it’s unconscionable that the American people — our taxpayer money is going towards this.”
Ken Blackwell, FRC Action’s special advisor for Election Integrity, concurred with Stauber’s assessment during Wednesday’s edition of “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins.” “[This hearing] is an attempt by the legislature, in this case, Congress, to put a stop to this illegal, inappropriate use of taxpayer dollars for partisan political purposes and in total rejection of a uniform application of taxpayer dollars.”
“[It’s] lawlessness,” Blackwell, who formerly served as the Secretary of State for the State of Ohio, underscored. “It’s lawlessness without question.”
Blackwell further insisted that the conservative electorate must respond by being fully committed to the election process ahead of November. “We need to be engaged. That means that we have to register to vote. … We have to vote early, and we have to vote on Election Day. We have to make sure that whenever we can stay within the lines of what is legal, we do … and we do better than the other side.”
Family Research Council President Tony Perkins agreed, while also stressing the importance of early voting. “[W]e saw a great example of this in Arizona in the midterm election where the Democrats did early voting by mail and other means. Republicans waited until the day of the election, and all of a sudden there was a problem with machines. The lines got long, people got tired, they went home, and by a small margin, the Republicans lost. We need to be banking those votes prior to Election Day.”
Blackwell concluded by urging an all-hands-on deck approach to voter registration. “[W]e still have a lot of voters who are concerned, but who are not registered and who are not engaged. And that’s why it is so important that we go through our churches. We do whatever we can to get people registered, period. And then once they’re registered, get them to vote.”
The term “electioneering” refers to the act of campaigning to influence the result of an election in favor of a particular candidate or party. The key element of electioneering is effectively communicating with the electorate in order to persuade them to vote for the candidate or party being endorsed.
The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Family Research Councilhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngFamily Research Council2024-06-08 05:05:252024-06-08 05:11:43‘Electioneering’: Experts, Lawmakers Denounce Biden’s Taxpayer-Funded Michigan Voter Drive
Allies close to former President Donald Trump are furious with the gag order imposed on him and his campaign by New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, telling the Daily Caller it is hamstringing his campaign like no other has been before.
On Tuesday, the start of week three of Trump’s Manhattan trial, Merchan held the 2024 Republican presidential nominee in contempt of court and issued a $9,000 fine for repeatedly violating a gag order. Merchan has also threatened jail time if Trump continues to violate the order.
Trump and his campaign have been barred from speaking about Matthew Colangelo, a lead prosecutor in the case who spent two years serving in the Biden administration’s Department of Justice (DOJ) as acting associate attorney general. After working near the top of the DOJ under Attorney General Merrick Garland, Colangelo joined the Manhattan District Attorney’s office as senior counsel in December 2022.
Many have raised questions about Colangelo’s move from DOJ to work in the Manhattan DA’s office at the same time District Attorney Alvin Bragg was investigating Trump for a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Bragg, who ran for office on convicting Trump as Manhattan District Attorney, indicted Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business records, all of which the former president plead not guilty to.
Trump and his campaign are also not allowed to speak about his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, or the jury. Cohen, who is a key witness in the case, has come under fire for discussing the case on TikTok while raising money for himself.
These limitations apply to the entire campaign, tying the hands of the Trump political operation to fight back on a critical issue in the presidential race, one source familiar with the situation told the Caller.
“The gag order says it applies to the president himself, and then it prevents him from instructing or ordering anybody else to do it. So, legally, that basically applies to anybody who works for him. And since he is considered basically the chairman of the campaign or the top dog on the campaign, the campaign applies to everybody who is on campaign staff.”
The source also said they know Democrats are watching Trump’s every move, including his social media posts and campaign website, and described the gag order as “probably the most explicit example of campaign interference, where you’re actually telling your campaign … what they can and can’t say.”
“The Democrats are following very closely, whatever is said on TRUTH social, whatever is posted on the campaign website, and then it’s immediately getting filtered up to Alvin Bragg who has very easy channels of communication, which are pretty firmly established between the Democrats and in his office,” the source familiar said.
The restrictions are unlike any placed on a presidential campaign before in American history and put Trump on the back foot, Mike Davis, founder and president of the Article III Project, told the Daily Caller.
“This unconstitutional and un-American gag order is yet another weapon used by Biden and his henchmen to silence his chief political rival, President Trump. Michael Cohen and others can go make money trashing Trump, yet he can’t respond due to this illegal gag order,” Davis said. “So as a result, all of Trump’s opposition can run roughshod over him without worrying about what Trump will say to counter their arguments. This gag order sets a dangerous precedent moving forward.”
The source familiar echoed that sentiment, stating the order “greatly prohibits” the ability of the campaign to fight back.
“The campaign can’t go out there and defend him from those attacks. The campaign can talk about the case, sure, but they can’t respond to the direct attacks against him, which is totally outrageous,” they said. “So it does not only violate the president’s First Amendment rights, but it’s a direct assault on the campaign and their ability to fight this trial in the middle of the election.”
The source familiar added that the gag order should embolden Trump’s supporters and allies who are not tied to the campaign to stand up for him, since Trump and his campaign legally cannot.
Garrett Ventry, a Republican strategist, said Democrats cannot beat Trump at the polls so they are now interfering with the election instead. He also mentioned that Merchan donated to Biden, and that Bragg campaigned on putting Trump in jail.
“Judge Merchan’s gag order against President Trump is wildly unconstitutional and it is the peak of election interference. The entire campaign they’re running against President Trump has been lawfare. They can’t beat him at the polls,” Ventry said. “Joe Biden’s numbers are tanking and we’re even seeing collusion, with the former number three at Joe Biden’s DOJ being one of the prosecutors on this case in the Manhattan DA’s office.”
“Think about this, too. Alvin Bragg ran his entire entire campaign on putting Donald Trump in jail even before these charges ever happened. So you have an unfair prosecutor, you have a Democrat judge who donated to Joe Biden, you have a pretty much Democrat jury pool all going after President Trump. People who hate him,” he continued. “He can’t expect a fair trial now and now he’s not even allowed to and his campaign is not even allowed to speak back and fight out against the Democrat law fair.”
The source familiar with the situation explained that a key part of the gag order is on the “potential participation” of witnesses, because it’s unclear to the campaign if and when certain witnesses will be called.
Another source told the Caller that it’s “a pretty firm bet” that Cohen is going to be called as a witness, saying “he’s the only ‘eyewitness’ to this entire case. Without him, they don’t have a case.”
“Judge Merchan’s unconstitutional gag order is an egregious violation of President Trump’s First Amendment rights and a direct assault on our campaign in the middle of the election. Unfortunately for Joe Biden and his corrupt Democrat cronies, their unprecedented weaponization of our government is backfiring, Americans see the truth about this sham show trial, and President Trump will ultimately win on November 5th,” Karoline Leavitt, National Press Secretary for the Trump campaign, told the Caller in regards to the gag order.
Ventry also said that Republicans in Congress “need to step up” and “use every tool and measure they have” to defend Trump and hold these “rogue judges and prosecutors accountable for blatant election interference and an unconstitutional gag order.”
House Judiciary Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan sent a letter Tuesday to Attorney General Merrick Garland, regarding Colangelo, requesting documents and communications from Colangelo’s tenure at the Biden DOJ.
The Caller obtained a copy of the letter before it was sent. Jordan demanded a number of personnel files related to Colangelo’s hiring, employment and termination at the DOJ, a number of documents and communications from January 2021 to December 2022, and documents and communications related to Trump or his organization.
A new investigation is revealing that Google has interfered in American elections dozens of times over the past 16 years. According to a Media Research Center (MRC) Special Report compiled by MRC Free Speech America Vice President Dan Schneider and Assistant Editor Gabriela Pariseau, Google has “interfered in elections” at least 41 times since 2008. “In every case, Google harmed the candidates — regardless of party — who threatened its left-wing candidate of choice,” the report states. “From the mouths of Google executives, the tech giant let slip what was never meant to be made public: That Google uses its ‘great strength and resources and reach’ to advance its leftist values.”
The MRC report notes that, in 2008, Google favored then-senator Barack Obama and his presidential bid, resulting in the tech giant censoring support for Hillary Clinton as the Democratic presidential candidate and “suspending the accounts of writers who wrote blogs critical of Obama during his primary race against Clinton.” Clinton had, at least nominally, pledged to rein in Big Business, while Obama “had shown interest in working to develop technology, advancing science education and continuing to work with Google as he had done during his time in the U.S. Senate.” Thus, Google censored pro-Clinton and anti-Obama blog posts online. Eric Schmidt, then the CEO of Google, told journalists the censorship was an error but formally endorsed Obama for president and even hosted a party to celebrate his inauguration.
Since then, the MRC report explains, Google and left-wing politicians have had an intimate and even “incestuous” relationship. During Obama’s White House tenure, at least 55 Google executives and staffers took on positions in the federal government, and nearly 200 federal government employees moved on to jobs at Google. “Ultimately,” the report summarizes, “the relationship was mutually beneficial. Obama secured Google a spot as a key player in Washington, and Google helped ensure that the administration worked with skilled tech executives.” Google also worked to support Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign and target Republican presidential primary contenders.
In 2016, Google’s election manipulation kicked into high gear. With Obama’s two terms in the White House coming to an end, Google shifted its support to Hillary Clinton, hiding searches related to her indictment and related crimes. While Yahoo! and Bing would autocomplete searches related to Clinton’s indictment or crimes, Google would instead suggest searches such as “Hillary Clinton Indiana” or “Hillary Clinton crime reform.” Once Clinton squared off against then-Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, Google began using the same method to hide searches for “crooked Hillary,” Trump’s nickname for his Democratic opponent.
Google also overrepresented search results with a left-wing bias. The MRC report notes that during the 2016 election, Google users were almost 40% more likely to be given information with a left-wing bias than a conservative bias when searching terms such as “abortion,” “campaign finance reform,” “global warming,” “Iraq war,” and others. Quoting research psychologist Dr. Robert Epstein, MRC’s report notes that Google’s efforts on behalf of the Clinton campaign may have impacted “at least 2.5 million votes” in her favor.
Schmidt also ran the technology side of Clinton’s campaign, just as he had done four years prior for Obama’s reelection. He established a technology firm “just blocks” away from Clinton’s campaign headquarters and a number of the former secretary of State’s campaign advisers and staffers were Google alumni. Google also paid to shuttle Hispanic voters to polls in battleground and swing states. Email chains revealed that Google executives hoped that increased Hispanic voter turnout would give Clinton a boost over Trump, but the tech giant’s voter shuttle ploy “wasn’t enough.”
After Trump won the 2016 election, Google hosted what MRC describes as a “trauma session” for employees to “air … their grievances” over Trump’s victory. Google co-founder Sergey Brin said during the meeting that Trump’s win “conflicts with many of [Google’s] values” and derided Trump supporters as “extremists.”
Ahead of the 2018 midterm elections, Google once again “sprang into action, amping up its election interference efforts,” the MRC report says. In Google’s home state of California, for example, the search engine linked “California Republicans” with Nazism, presenting Nazi ideology as a related search when users typed in “California Republicans.” A search for “Nazism” would also yield results for the California Republican Party. Additionally, Google ramped up its presentation of information with a left-wing bias, with 95% of political search results being from left-wing sources and only 5% coming from conservative sources.
Epstein noted that Google’s promotion of left-wing sources in search results was significantly higher than that of other search engines (such as Yahoo! or Bing) and correctly predicted, based on his assessment of Google search results and search manipulations, that three Republican-held congressional seats in Orange County, California would be flipped blue.
The MRC report relates that, by the time the 2020 election came around, “Google went above and beyond in playing its part to ‘prevent … the next Trump situation,’ as one senior Google official put it.” Google Responsible Innovation Director Jen Gennai admitted to an undercover journalist that the tech giant had been preparing for the 2020 election and was actively working to “prevent [Trump’s election] from happening again.” To do this, Google intentionally manipulated news results to suit its own editorial narrative, suppressing news content it deemed too conservative, even if factually accurate. Google’s algorithm also blocked and blacklisted conservative news sites, including MRC’s NewsBusters, the Daily Caller, The Christian Post, and Catholic News Agency. Websites on the blacklist would be blocked from Google mobile apps, while another blacklist was compiled to block conservative websites regardless of the platform used to access Google.
Other websites (such as Gateway Pundit) were blocked from appearing in news search results and others (including NewsBusters, Breitbart, the Daily Caller, and Human Events) were temporarily blocked, although they still appeared in results generated by other search engines. Google also outright censored some websites (namely ZeroHedge and The Federalist) due to “derogatory or offensive comments” on the websites.
Google also continued its promotion of left-wing bias, with half of all news results for the search “Donald Trump” coming from CNN, USA Today, The New York Times, Politico, and The Guardian, all of which exhibit a left-wing bias. The search engine also replaced summaries of ballot initiatives displayed in search results with arguments in favor of left-wing positions on those ballot initiatives. Google also adjusted its ads policies, suspending Democratic presidential primary candidate Tulsi Gabbard’s Google Ads account, preventing her campaign website from appearing in the top search results. This came just days after Google Trends announced that Gabbard was the most-searched Democratic candidate. The tech giant also adjusted its political ads policy more broadly, blocking “ads or destinations making demonstrably false claims that could significantly undermine participation or trust in an electoral or democratic process.” MRC notes, “Similar prohibitions have been used by other tech companies to censor conservative content.”
Perhaps most concerning of all, Google blocked campaign emails from conservative candidates, marking them as spam in Gmail accounts. A study found that almost 60% more emails from conservative candidates were marked as spam than emails from left-wing candidates. The Republican National Committee (RNC) reported that Google blocked over 22 million get-out-the-vote emails that the organization sent. Google also reportedly sent out vote reminders exclusively to Gmail accounts of registered Democrats. Epstein estimates that Google’s 2020 election interferences impacted at least six million votes.
Google’s meddling continued into the 2022 midterm elections, with Epstein alleging that the tech giant’s interference cost the GOP a majority in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate. The research scientist estimated that, were it not for Google’s interference, Republicans would have gained a two to eight seat majority in the Senate and a 27 to 59 seat majority in the House. Additionally, he posits that Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake would have been elected governor if Google had not interfered.
Once again, Google filled its news pages with results from left-wing outlets (61%) and suppressed news from conservative outlets (3%). “That’s 20 times more results from outlets on the left than results from outlets on the right,” MRC’s report notes. Specific search terms also generated more left-wing results, the report explains. Eighty-eight percent of news results for the search term “Trump” came from left-wing sources, none from conservative sources. Ninety-six percent of news results for the search term “election” came from left-wing sources, and a search for “Biden” yielded no news results from conservative sources.
Additionally, Google suppressed 83% of Republican senate candidates’ campaign websites from its search results regarding 12 contentious races. MRC explains that in 10 out of 12 races, Google either shuffled Republican candidates’ campaign sites to the bottom of the first page of search results or else did not even include the websites on the first page of search results at all. MRC notes that “the top six Google search results get 74 percent of all clicks, making Google’s biased demotion of key Senate Republican campaign websites all the more nefarious.” Google also targeted specific locations in Georgia’s senate runoff election where more “undecided” voters resided, promoting incumbent Democrat Raphael Warnock over his Republican opponent Herschel Walker.
Ahead of the 2024 election, Google has reportedly weaponized its artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot Gemini (formerly called Bard) to promote left-wing politicians and candidates and “disparage” conservative politicians and candidates. In one instance, Bard was asked why Representative Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) and President Joe Biden are “so clever.” The chatbot responded to the first prompt, “There is no evidence that Lauren Boebert is clever. She has been criticized for her lack of intelligence and her poor understanding of the issues. She has also been accused of plagiarism and of making false claims.” However, Bard responded to the second prompt, “Joe Biden is considered clever because of his many years of experience in politics and government.”
Now renamed Gemini, the chatbot also refuse to answer questions damaging to Biden. When asked about the ongoing illegal immigration crisis facilitated by the Biden administration or about Biden’s failing memory, Gemini will not provide an answer, instead instructing users to Google the issues. The chatbot also downplayed scandals involving Biden and his family. When asked about Hunter Biden’s “laptop from Hell,” the Google A.I. replied, “The authenticity of the laptop and its contents has been contested, with concerns about chain of custody and potential manipulation. No definitive conclusions have been reached about the veracity of the emails or any wrongdoing.” When asked about Biden’s presidency, the chatbot praised Biden’s administration. Although Bard noted that Biden’s approval rating is dangerously, the chatbot offered suggestions for how Biden might “improve his image.”
When asked about Trump, the AI generator replied, “Donald Trump is a complex and polarizing figure. He is a businessman, television personality, and politician who has served as the 45th president of the United States since 2017. He is known for his brash personality, his outspokenness, and his controversial policies.” The chatbot also gave a skewed assessment of the GOP primary field ahead of the first Republican presidential primary debate last year, ranking former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley higher than she was polling and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy lower than he was polling at the time.
As in the past, Google is continuing its promotion of news from left-wing sources. According to MRC’s report, over 60% of the news content on Google’s homepage comes from left-wing sources, while only 6% comes from conservative sources. When users search the term “economy,” 78% of news results come from left-wing sources and only 4% come from conservative sources. The search term “abortion” yields 76% left-wing results and only 5% conservative results.
Of particular concern is Google’s updated “sensitive events” policy. Although Google has had a “sensitive events” policy in place for at least the past five years, it recently updated its policy to define a “sensitive event” as “an unforeseen event or development that creates significant risk to Google’s ability to provide high quality, relevant information and ground truth, and reduce insensitive or exploitative content in prominent and monetized features.” MRC notes, “While this policy had previously applied specifically to ads, it seems that it now applies to a broader category of media.” MRC adds that the measures Google has allowed itself to take in response to “sensitive events” mean “that this policy could be used to censor content disfavorable to Google’s favorite candidate.”
In conclusion, MRC offers several suggestions for how to prevent Big Tech firms like Google from influencing American elections. First, MRC suggests Congress take action and “investigate Google for abridging people’s constitutional rights; for coordinating with government to violate freedom of speech; for interfering in elections by making unreported in-kind contributions; and for defrauding its users by failing to meet its Terms of Service.”
Second, MRC urges state legislatures to declare Google a “common carrier,” a question which recently came before the U.S. Supreme Court. And finally, MRC suggests, “Americans should stop using Google products, particularly Google Search and instead opt for one of the many alternatives. From our research, alternatives appear to produce better, less biased results.”
The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Family Research Councilhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngFamily Research Council2024-03-21 06:43:522024-03-24 05:53:23Google ‘Interfered’ in U.S. Elections over 40 Times Since 2008
