SAN FRANCISCO – Google employees have been discussing ways to change search results to direct users to pro-immigration organizations and contact lawmakers and government agencies after President Donald Trump's travel ban on Muslim predominance.

This is according to the company's internal emails obtained by the Wall Street Journal. The newspaper reported that employees in January 2017 wanted to counter what they saw as "Islamophobic, biased" results from the search terms "Islam," "Muslim," "Iran," and so on. "Mexico", "Hispanic", "Latin", etc. "

Google says that no ideas have been implemented.

"Google has never manipulated its search results or modified any of its products to promote a particular political ideology – not during the current election campaign, not in the 2016 elections and not after President Trump's decree on "Immigration" company said in a statement to USA today.

Google has a corporate culture in which staff members are encouraged to express themselves freely, but they have periodically been accused that the political views of their staff, who are very liberal, are shaping its influential search engine . In this case, a group of employees reflected on ways to change the online immigration debate in e-mails on January 29, two days after Trump's first signing of the decree.

One leader warned participants of the discussion, according to the Wall Street Journal. "It is a highly political issue, so we must stay fair and balanced and present facts," the executive wrote. "We are very much in favor of Google intervening, but just ask a few questions about it," including "how much we are in favor of it," wrote a public affairs official. Another head of the company said, "We are absolutely in … everything you need," the newspaper reported.

No action has been taken, according to Google. The emails were then posted to an online group and then disclosed.

"Our processes and policies would have allowed no manipulation of research results to promote political ideologies," the company said.

The revelation that Google employees discussed the change in search results comes after Breitbart News posted a video of a 2016 meeting at Google, in which executives were dismayed by Trump's election victory. The leak of the video fueled accusations by Trump and some on the political right that Google has a bias against the Conservatives.

Google's position on immigration has been public and consistent. Sundar Pichai from Google was one of the many business leaders who spoke after Trump 's ban on travel.

"It is painful to see the personal cost of this executive order on our colleagues," Pichai said at the time. "We have always made our point of view known about immigration issues and we will continue to do so."

Google is then associated with other companies to oppose the ban on traveling in amicus briefs. It has also created a $ 4 million fund to support people working with immigrants and refugees.

In January 2017, thousands of Google employees staged protests against the Trump immigration decree. Pichai and Google co-founder Sergey Brin – both immigrants – have expressed concern over the order that limited travel to the United States from predominantly Muslim countries.

Next week, Attorney General Jeff Sessions is scheduled to meet with state attorneys general to discuss the concerns of the technology industry, including Google, about anti-conservative prejudices.

More: Google's video could fuel Trump's accusations of anti-conservative bias

More: "Fake social", "fake search" is the new "false news" while Trump attacks technology before midms

More: Republicans press social media giants for anti-conservative "bias" that Democrats call "nonsense"

More: 58 tech companies sign a memo against the new travel ban under the Trump project

The political fortunes of Google in Washington have changed dramatically. It is now subject to a more rigorous review of its business practices and new regulatory threats. And he is hunted by allegations of partisan bias that have intensified in recent weeks. Digital experts had rejected Trump's claims that Google had rigged the results of his research to promote negative news about his presidency.

Republicans on Capitol Hill push Google to testify. And congressional lawmakers have criticized the Internet giant for failing to send a senior officer to testify at a hearing alongside Facebook and Twitter earlier this month. The Senate Intelligence Committee has left an open presidency to highlight the absence of Google. Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, R-Utah, also called on the federal government to reopen its Google antitrust investigation, which was closed in 2013.

Read or share this story: https://usat.ly/2Dhfn43