Google C.E.O. denies allegations of political bias in search results

SAN FRANCISCO – Google CEO Sundar Pichai said in an email to employees Friday that the company never had and would never be biased towards its research results for political purposes.

Mr. Pichai's message followed an article in the Wall Street Journal this week about an internal thread dating back to early 2017, in which Google employees were discussing

The ban has limited travel to the United States from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days and has been widely condemned in the technology industry. More than 100 technology companies – including Google – have signed an amicus brief asking a court of appeal to overturn the ban.

On an internal thread at Google, employees discussed the possibility of including pro-immigration content in the search, according to the newspaper. According to Google spokesperson Gina Scigliano, the thread was a brainstorming session between employees and none of the ideas were implemented.

"Recent articles refer to an internal email to suggest that we are compromising the integrity of our search results for a political purpose. This is absolutely false, "wrote Mr. Pichai in the email, which was obtained by The New York Times. "We do not borrow our products to promote a political agenda. The trust of our users in us is our greatest asset and we must always protect it. "

Pichai's e-mail did not discuss recent reports that Google is developing a research product for use in China that is supposed to censor some of the results at the request of the Chinese government. Google employees said in a internal letter that the project, named Dragonfly, raises "urgent ethical and ethical issues".