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A video showing Google's top executives upset over the election of President Donald Trump was leaked on Wednesday on the far-right Breitbart website, intensifying a wave of misrepresentations by Republicans that tech companies are biased against preservatives.
The one – hour video captured Google executives, who were speaking at a regular weekly meeting circulated to employees around the world, lamenting Trump 's election because it contrasted with some of the values of the company.
Sundar Pichai, General Manager of Google, was present on the scene. Sergey Brin and Larry Page, co-founders of Google; Ruth Porat, Google's Chief Financial Officer; Kent Walker, Senior Vice President of Global Business at Google; and Eileen Naughton, vice president of Google's operations for people.
"As an immigrant and refugee, I certainly find this election deeply offensive and I know that many of you, too," said Brin ahead of the meeting. "I think it's a very stressful time, it comes into conflict with many of our values, and it's a good time to think about it."
Before the leak of the video, it was no secret that some Google executives had liberal views. The video, however, provided no evidence that Google, as a search engine, discriminates against users based on their political views.
Related: Trump Proposes False Statement That Great Technology Is There to Silence Conservatives
In a statement, a Google spokesman said: "At a regularly scheduled all-around meeting, some Google employees and executives expressed their personal views following a long election campaign."
"For more than 20 years, everyone at Google has been able to freely express its opinions at these meetings," the statement said. "Nothing has been said at this meeting, or any other meeting, to suggest that any political bias influences the way we build or operate our products."
"On the contrary, our products are designed for everyone and we design them with extraordinary care to be a source of reliable information for all, regardless of the political point of view," the statement concluded.
Google's spokesperson did not respond to additional questions not addressed in the company's statement. A request to speak to one of the executives listed in the video leaked was also not returned.
Brad Parscale, Trump campaign director in 2020, suggested in a tweet that the video disclosed demonstrates that Google is a "threat to the Republic". Parscale called on Congress to hold hearings and investigate the matter.
Related: Trump slams Google search as "faked" – but it's not
Trump has already accused Google of rigging its results to show "bad" stories when users searched for "Trump news". He suggested that the search engine giant's actions could be "illegal" and Larry Kudlow, the White House's economic adviser, said the Trump administration would "look into" the issue.
The video of the Google meeting was leaked to Breitbart as Republicans escalated their attacks on tech giants for allegedly incorporating a bias against conservatives in their products.
Last week, Republican lawmakers asked Jack Dorsey, CEO and co-founder of Twitter, if his company was unfairly treating people with a conservative ideology.
Previously, Republican lawmakers held hearings on the so-called practice of "filtering social media".
At the first hearing earlier this year, pro-Trump "Diamond & Silk" social media personalities, who mistakenly accused Facebook of censoring their page, were invited to testify. Republicans like Steve King of Iowa have cited articles from mainstream media outlets such as the Gateway Pundit to blame social media companies for prejudging conservatives.
In July, the Judiciary Committee of the House held a second hearing on this matter. The same episode has been repeated, Republican lawmakers questioning technical officials about so-called prejudices against conservative users.
CNNMoney (New York) First published on September 13, 2018: 3:43 PM ET
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