Google CEO denies bias against right-wing in Congress testimony

Google chief executive Sundar Pichai testified before the House judiciary committee on Tuesday, where he committed to removing search results that violated hate-speech policies.

Pichai is likely to be bombarded with questions regarding ethics, censorship and data privacy in an appearance that comes just three months after the online giant snubbed Congress by failing to appear alongside Facebook and Twitter representatives at a Senate hearing on election interference.

The event is seen as a critical moment for the company as it courts controversy over a reported agreement to build a censored search-engine for China and faces allegations of partisan bias and spreading fake news.

Critics such as President Donald Trump, who is the first image result if one Googles the term ‘idiot’, claim that the search engine’s algorithm is stacked unfairly against right-wing political figures.

Texas Republican Lamar Smith claimed that 96% of the references to Trump on the search engine originated from “liberal media”.

However, Pichai defended the methodology behind this statistic and stated that it was “not possible” for individuals or groups to manipulate the results of a Google search.

“I lead this company without political bias and work to ensure that our products continue to operate that way. To do otherwise would go against our core principles and our business interests. We are a company that provides platforms for diverse perspectives and opinions—and we have no shortage of them among our own employees,” said Pichai.

He added that there were currently “no plans” to launch a censored search engine in China.

The chief executive’s testimony also comes after Google revealed plans to close its failed Google+ social media site sooner than expected after 52.5m people were affected by a bug that revealed private information to software developers in November.

As such, the social networking site will now shut down in April.