July 6, 2006
@ 02:42 PM

Titled:   You Really Need to Stop Using Google

We Swear brings us an interesting angle on Google.

Not content to censor the Chinese population, they also seem to have a bias against right-of-center sites in their main search engine, either in News, Search or both:

    As it turns out, the mega search engine Google has been taken over by the left and any key words that someone there deems “hate speech” results in that piece disappearing.
    ...
    Google has become the single largest private corporate underwriter of MoveOn. According to sources in the Democrat National Committee, MoveOn has received more than $1 million from Google and its lobbyists in Washington...

Even the Washington Times has written about the story:

As Newsbusters reports, in March 2005, Rusty Shackleford, who runs the conservative blog the Jawa Report, received an e-mail message from Google informing him that: "Upon recent review, we've found that your site contains hate speech, and we will no longer be including it in Google News." A year later, Jim Sesi, who runs the conservative MichNews.com, received a similar e-mail from Google: "We have received numerous reports about hate content on your site, and after reviewing these reports, decided to remove your site from Google news." Two weeks ago, Frank Salvato, who runs the conservative New Media Journal, also heard from Google that his site was being removed, again because of "hate content."
    Aside from each of these three sites being largely conservative in outlook, the offending material cited by Google were articles criticizing radical Islam and Islamists. Upon review, the articles contain language no more -- in some cases far less -- inflammatory than the numerous Muslim Web sites a user can find when searching Google News. So, at least on the surface, it's reasonable to assume that it is Muslims who are complaining to Google, which then chooses to avoid further criticism by simply expelling the sites.

Michelle Malkin weighs in with an example of clear bias:

Actual headline featured in Google News' top U.S. stories section:

Gonzales confirmed: war criminal to head US Justice Department

Google is happy to allow Uruknet.info, an Iraqi resistance propaganda outlet, to appear at the top of the News section, but won't add respectable sites from the right?

Newsbusters points out the make-up of the staff at Google:

In the case of Google, there is some evidence that its employees lean strongly to the left. According to a February 2005 USA Today article on the subject: “As it claws for greater power, the Democratic Party has found a newly rich ally in one of the fastest-growing U.S. companies: Google.” The article stated that of the over $200,000 Google employees gave to federal candidates in 2004, “98% went to Democrats, the biggest share among top tech donors.” And, with a largely successful public stock offering making “scores of millionaires among [Google’s] 3,000 workers,” “Democrats now have a potentially potent source of cash as they fight to retake the White House and Congress.”

With over 49% of the searches in the US made though Google, maybe it's time to move to another engine.

Fair and balanced indeed!