Facebook parent company Meta took down a post relating to research on the liberal bias on the internet shared by the Maricopa County Republican Committee (MCRC) on Friday, the group said.

According to the county MCRC, the post shared support for Dr. Robert Epstein’s research on Google’s liberal bias and linked to mygoogleresearch.com, a website featuring his works and requesting donations.

The post also related to the American Institute of Behavioral Research and Technology (AIBRT), founded by Epstein. However, Facebook claimed the link violates community standards.

This all came after the MCRC announced it would be partnering with AIBRT to try and prevent Google or other big tech companies from influencing Arizona’s elections by sharing information regarding the apparent liberal bias that exists online.

“The MCRC supports AIBRT in its fight against Big Tech attacks on the hearts and minds of our fellow citizens, young and old, targeting individuals and traditional American family values,” said MCRC Chairman Craig Berland (pictured above). “The partnership between the MCRC and Dr. Robert Epstein to fight and hinder attacks on Arizona elections by Google in Maricopa County remains strong, even in the face of ongoing Big Tech censorship, like this, or any form of censorship, for that matter,” Berland added.

The post was also blocked on Instagram, another social media platform owned by Meta. However, despite the setback, Berland stated this censorship proves what the committee is doing is worth fighting for.

“In fact, this incident shows us we’re over the target, and we’re now more committed to our mission than ever before,” said Berland.

AIBRT is a nonprofit organization that centers around researching “behavior that has the potential to improve the human condition” and how to apply its findings. The organization’s research archives show that Epstein has been researching biases on the internet for over a decade.

In Epstein’s latest report, entitled “Google’s Triple Threat to Democracy, Our Children, and Our Minds,” he describes himself as left-leaning politically. Still, he said he does not have to be a Conservative to see how Google and other big tech companies have used their influence to influence the political landscape.

“I am helping to expose these companies because I love America and democracy and freedom, and because these companies are now undermining all three of these sacred institutions in ways very few people understand – even our leaders, the people who have sworn to protect our country from harm,” Epstein wrote.

Back in 2016, leading up to the presidential election, he and a team collected 13,000 election-related searches conducted by “a politically diverse group of 95 Americans” across 24 states. These searches were done using Google, Bing, and Yahoo, and the researchers found that Google results were heavily skewed in Hillary Clinton’s favor. Epstein confidently stated this bias led to between two and ten million votes for Clinton. He called this effect the Search Engine Manipulation Effect (SEME), which causes people to have a positive view of a candidate if search results favor them.

Moreover, The New York Post reported on Epstein’s work, sharing that this threat also extends to children. Epstein shared that the way the Google search algorithm works, if someone has a bias already based on their searches, Google will show that person what they want to see; however, when someone is undecided, like a child without strong political views, they are prime from manipulation. Take YouTube, for example. Epstein’s research shows that YouTube’s “up-next” algorithm, which suggests what video a user should watch next, leans towards liberal sources. For adults, 76 percent of up-next videos were liberal-biased, but for children and teens, that number is 96 percent.

Ultimately, Epstein said the way to beat the Google bias problem is to allow other search engines without prejudice to thrive. The only problem is Google’s near total monopoly on the search engine industry, which Epstein said may require congressional action to break.

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Neil Jones is a reporter for The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Neil on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Maricopa County Courthouse” by Ken Lund. CC BY-SA 2.0.

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