Missouri to probe Google over allegations of censoring conservative speech

By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Missouri's Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey said on Thursday he was launching an investigation into Google over allegations that it was censoring conservative speech.

Google dismissed Missouri's allegations as "totally false."

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

Republicans have long claimed an anti-conservative bias on social media platforms. Tech firms have denied their platforms censor conservative voices.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who is in a tight race for the Nov. 5 presidential election against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, said last month he will seek the prosecution of Google if he wins the election.

Trump and his supporters have alleged without evidence that Google searches displayed only "bad stories" about the former U.S. president.

KEY QUOTES

"I am launching an investigation into Google - the biggest search engine in America - for censoring conservative speech during the most consequential election in our nation’s history," Bailey said in a post on social media platform X. His post did not cite any example or evidence for his censorship claim.

"These claims are totally false," a Google spokesperson said in an email. "Search serves all our users, and our business rests on showing useful information to everyone – no matter what their political beliefs are."

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Sandra Maler and Sonali Paul)

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