Leaked video shows Google co-founder Sergey Brin comparing Trump voters to 'fascists' - vows to thwart rise of populism in the aftermath of the 2016 Presidential Election
Leaked video shows Google co-founder Sergey Brin
comparing Trump voters to 'fascists' as he vows to thwart rise of populism in
the aftermath of the 2016 Presidential Election
·
Footage obtained by Breitbart shows Google
leadership discussing the result
·
They were filmed at their first conference of
2016 after the election took place
·
Google co-founder Sergey Brin says he feels
'deeply offended' by the result
·
Brin later says data shows a correlation between
'boredom' and voting for Trump
·
He then goes on to argue
that there is a link between 'boredom' and 'fascism'
·
Sundar Pichai, Google's CEO, also says there is
a lot of 'fear' after the results
·
CFO Ruth Porat appears to break down in tears
when discussing the election
·
Porat also instructs the audience to hug one
another saying 'we all need a hug'
·
Senior VP for Global
Affairs, Kent Walker, says the company will stop populism
·
Walker says that 'populism could lead to a world
war or something catastrophic'
·
Instead Walker says that Google must ensure
populism is just 'a blip or hiccup'
·
The video was leaked as Google faces questions
from the President over bias
·
Trump tweeted last week that Google was burying
Conservative search results
By GEORGE MARTIN FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 05:53 EDT, 13 September 2018 | UPDATED: 14:10
EDT, 13 September 2018
Leaked video from a Google conference held in the wake of
the 2016 Presidential Election shows the company's co-founder comparing Trump
voters to 'fascists'.
The footage, obtained by Breitbart, also shows the
company's executives vowing to halt the rise of populism and urging employees
to console one another after the election result.
The damaging video pours further doubt onto Google's
claims of political impartiality just a few days after it was accused of trying
to boost Latino voter turnout to help Hillary Clinton.
Google co-founder Sergey Brin can be seen on stage in
front of hundreds of employees saying he was 'deeply offended' by Trump's
election and that it 'conflicts with many of Google's values.'
At one point during the conference, Brin talks about the
typical mentality of Trump voters.
He argues that those with 'routine jobs' were more likely
to vote for Trump than those with 'non-routine' jobs - and said 'boredom' might
explain the President's popularity.
'There's actually a lot of historical precedent for
boredom being a huge factor in vote choice,' Brin told the crowd.
'And actually in building extremism. We've done a lot of
work on extremism that shows a high correlation with boredom.'
'Data suggests that boredom led to the rise of fascism
and communism. It sort of sneaks up sometimes, really bad things.'
'History teaches us that there are periods of populism,
of nationalism that rise up, and that's all the reason we need to be in the arena,'
Walker says.
He also notes that the company is figuring out the ways
how to respond to the populism tide 'before the world comes into this
environment of tribalism that's self-destructive in the long-term.'
Earlier this week, Fox News obtained an internal email
from a former head of multicultural marketing at Google detailing the company's
efforts to turn out Latino voters for the presidential election.
Google has also been accused of burying Conservative news
outlets search results by the President himself.
'Google search results for 'Trump News' shows only the
viewing/reporting of Fake New Media,' Trump said.
'In other words, they have it RIGGED, for me &
others, so that almost all stories & news is BAD. Fake CNN is prominent.'
Trump added that 'they are controlling what we can &
cannot see. This is a very serious situation-will be addressed!'
The conference video led to immediate calls for Google to
be held to account over its behaviour.
Trump’s 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale called for
'Congressional hearings' and an 'investigation' into alleged political bias
within the company.
In a statement, Google said employees and executives in
the all-hands meeting were expressing their personal views after a 'long and
divisive election season.'
'For over 20 years, everyone at Google has been able to
freely express their opinions at these meetings,' the statement read.
'Nothing was said at that meeting, or any other meeting,
to suggest that any political bias ever influences the way we build or operate
our products.
'To the contrary, our products are built for everyone,
and we design them with extraordinary care to be a trustworthy source of
information for everyone, without regard to political viewpoint.'
Social media companies have come under increased scrutiny
to explain their role in influencing votes during the 2016 election since Trump
came to power.
Facebook chief Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter boss Jack
Dorsey became the latest tech executives to get a grilling from Congress over
foreign manipulation Tuesday.
The pair appeared before the Senate Intelligence
Committee as Russian election meddling continues to loom over Congress with the
mid-terms just two months away – and the value of both company stocks took an
immediate dive.
Early in the hearing, panel vice chair Sen. Mark Warner
of Virginia said regulation is on the cards.
'Congress is going to have to take action here,' said
Warner, who was a telecomm investor before he came to Congress. 'The era of the
Wild West in social media is coming to an end,' he said.
President Trump warned last week the firms were 'treading
on very, very troubled territory and they have to be careful.'
Comments
Post a Comment