Epstein also noted that those extrapolated
findings suggested a pro-Clinton vote shift of
2.6 million to 10 million votes, not the 16 million
cited by Trump.
Even that may be too much of a stretch, said
Ramesh Srinivasan, an information-studies
professor at UCLA, who noted that the study’s
finding of alleged search-result bias doesn’t
account for other possible influences on voters.
“We can’t jump to conclusions that it gave any a
candidate millions of votes,” he said.
Like other researchers, Epstein and Srinavasan
emphasize that they remain concerned about
the opacity of tech platforms like Google
and Facebook and their unbridled power to
influence elections.
CONSERVATIVE BIAS
In his early August tweets, Trump singled out
former Google engineer Kevin Cernekee, who
claims Google fired him for posting Republican
viewpoints on internal message boards. Google
said Cernekee was fired for downloading
confidential company documents onto a
personal device.
Cernekee apparently drew Trump’s attention
after he told Fox News host Tucker Carlson
on Aug. 2 that Google executives “really want
Trump to lose in 2020. That’s their agenda.”
Cernekee offered no evidence for his claim.
“The statements made by this disgruntled
former employee are absolutely false,” Google’s
Tarallo said.
Cernekee’s situation reflects a larger belief
among conservatives that major platforms such