{"id":723,"date":"2022-11-20T14:25:35","date_gmt":"2022-11-20T19:25:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeeducationcouncil.com\/blog\/?p=723"},"modified":"2022-11-20T14:25:35","modified_gmt":"2022-11-20T19:25:35","slug":"google-quashed-midterm-red-wave-by-manipulating-swing-voters-big-tech-expert-robert-epstein","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeeducationcouncil.com\/blog\/2022\/11\/20\/google-quashed-midterm-red-wave-by-manipulating-swing-voters-big-tech-expert-robert-epstein\/","title":{"rendered":"Google quashed midterm \u2018red wave\u2019 by manipulating swing voters: Big Tech expert Robert Epstein"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews<\/a>) \u2013 Google and other giants of internet technology played a major role in preventing a \u201cred wave\u201d in last week\u2019s 2022 midterm elections, according to research spearheaded by American Institute for Behavioral Research psychologist Dr. Robert Epstein.<\/p>\n

For months, many on both sides predicted that Republicans would sweep into strong majorities in both chambers of Congress in response to President Joe Biden\u2019s unpopular handling of numerous issues; instead, the GOP barely won a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives and failed to wrest the Senate from Democrat control.<\/p>\n

Epstein, a prominent tech researcher,\u00a0wrote Tuesday<\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0The<\/em>\u00a0Epoch Times<\/i>\u00a0that \u201calmost no one is looking in the right place\u201d for the correct explanation, and that Big Tech is in fact expanding the reach of \u201crumors and conspiracy theories\u201d about it to divert attention from itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver a period of months, Google nudged undecided voters toward voting blue by showing people\u00a0politically biased content in their search engine<\/a>,\u00a0suppressing content they didn\u2019t want people to see<\/a>, recommending left-leaning videos on YouTube (pdf<\/a>) (which Google owns),\u00a0allegedly sending tens of millions of emails<\/a>\u00a0to people\u2019s spam boxes, and\u00a0sending go-vote reminders<\/a>\u00a0on their home page mainly to liberal and moderate voters,\u201d Epstein said. \u201cThese manipulations (and others) don\u2019t affect voters with strong points of view, but they can have an enormous impact on voters who are undecided (pdf<\/a>) \u2014 the people who decide the outcomes of close elections.\u201d<\/p>\n

Epstein\u2019s team determined Google\u2019s activities by monitoring the content seen by a panel of 2,742 politically diverse voters predominantly in swing states, primarily \u201cephemeral experiences\u201d (EEs)\u2014 content such as text reminders that nudges people in a particular direction but does not linger to be reviewed after the fact and is not seen by anyone not targeted with it.<\/p>\n

These researchers, however, preserved more than 2.5 million EEs. And while\u00a0similar past warnings<\/a>\u00a0about Google\u2019s influence on the 2020 election went unheeded, Epstein expressed hope that next year, \u201cthis large dataset might be used by authorities to go after Big Tech,\u201d which he thinks \u201cwill almost certainly occur\u201d in a GOP House.<\/p>\n

Epstein also revealed that his team is \u201ccontinuing to build a digital shield. \u201cBy late 2023, we\u2019ll be monitoring the content that tech companies are sending to a representative sample of more than 20,000 voters and children in all 50 U.S. states 24 hours a day, and we\u2019ll report suspect content to authorities and journalists as we find it,\u201d he said. \u201cThis digital shield \u2014 the first of its kind in the world\u2014will protect our democracy and our children from potential manipulation by current and emerging technologies for many years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

The researcher concluded by urging conservatives to disregard \u201cscary stories\u201d circulated online \u201cabout how the midterm elections were tainted by rigged voting machines, fake ballots and other dirty tricks,\u201d which he argued are overblown or, to the extent that some prove to be true, insufficient to flip election outcomes on their own.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s more, if these stories are spreading like wildfire on social media platforms, that\u2019s only because the tech companies want them to spread,\u201d Epstein wrote. \u201cThe tech companies allow such stories to spread \u2014 or even force them to spread \u2014 to turn your attention away from the companies themselves. If you think that there were fake ballots, you won\u2019t pay attention to the fact that tech companies might have shifted millions of votes in the midterms.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many possible factors have been identified as potentially contributing to Republicans\u2019 underperformance, with competing factions of the conservative movement currently holding fierce online debates as to which are most to blame.<\/p>\n

Among them are Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell\u00a0withdrawing financial support<\/a>\u00a0for certain candidates; former President Donald Trump\u00a0redirecting<\/a>\u00a0midterm donations\u00a0to his own organization<\/a>\u00a0instead of midterm candidates and his\u00a0elevation of questionable candidates in Republican primaries<\/a>; Democrats themselves\u00a0funding weaker Republican candidates<\/a>\u00a0in primaries;\u00a0potential election fraud<\/a>\u00a0and Democrats\u2019\u00a0effective harvesting of early votes and mail ballots<\/a>; establishment Republicans\u00a0failing to offer a compelling contrast<\/a>\u00a0to Democrats over the last two years; and the long-term results of left-wing bias in media and education.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) \u2013 Google and other giants of internet technology played a major role in preventing a \u201cred wave\u201d in last week\u2019s 2022 midterm elections, according to research spearheaded by American Institute for Behavioral Research psychologist Dr. Robert Epstein. For months, many on both sides predicted that Republicans would sweep into strong majorities in…<\/p>\n

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