Former President Donald Trump expressed concerns about Alphabet Inc.’s GOOGL GOOG Google market power and alleged bias in content surfacing during a wide-ranging interview while stopping short of supporting calls to break up the tech giant.
What Happened: When asked about the Justice Department’s potential Google breakup proposal, Trump initially deflected before focusing on what he described as unfair treatment by the company’s search results.
“Google’s got a lot of power. They’re very bad to me,” Trump told Bloomberg’s John Micklethwait. “If I have 20 good stories and 20 bad stories… you’ll only see the 20 bad stories.”
The former president claimed he recently contacted Google’s leadership about the issue, saying he told “the head of Google” that positive stories about him weren’t appearing in search results.
Rather than endorsing a breakup, Trump suggested alternative regulatory approaches. “What you can do, without breaking it up, is make sure it’s more fair,” he said while acknowledging the company’s achievements. “I give them a lot of credit. They’ve become such a power.”
Trump also expressed concern about Chinese competition in the tech sector, noting, “We don’t want China to have these companies. Right now, China is afraid of Google.”
When pressed about his administration’s previous attempts to ban TikTok and whether he still viewed it as a security threat, Trump pivoted back to Google. He recounted an alleged conversation with Google CEO Sundar Pichai where he claimed the CEO told him he was “the number one person on all of Google for stories.”
Why It Matters: Trump’s comments about Google come amid a series of public statements where he has criticized major tech companies. In July, Trump threatened to jail Meta Platforms Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg and others for alleged election fraud if re-elected.
In September, Trump accused Google of bias in its search results, claiming it was showing negative stories about him while promoting positive ones about Vice President Kamala Harris.
J.D. Vance, the former tech investor and current Republican vice-presidential candidate, has also advocated for breaking up Big Tech, particularly Google, due to its perceived bias. He aligns with figures like FTC Chair Lina Khan in pushing for stronger antitrust measures to curb the dominance of companies like Google and Facebook, which he believes distort political discourse.
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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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