Conservatives erupted Tuesday after Project Veritas released an alleged internal Google email in which an employee compared three prominent right-of-center figures to Nazis.
The email, part of an apparent chain to the company’s transparency and ethics group, was sent by Liam Hopkins to 17 other staff using Google email addresses. The other names and date were redacted.
“Today it is often 1 or 2 steps to nazis, if we understand that PragerU, Jordan Peterson, Ben Shapiro et al are nazis using the dog whistles you mention in step 1,” said the email. “I can receive these recommendations regardless of what I’m looking at, and I have recorded thousands of internet users sharing the same experience.”
He also discussed the idea of identifying and disabling “far-right content.”
“I don’t think correctly identifying far-right content is beyond our capabilities,” said the email. “But if it is, why not go with Meredith’s suggestion of disabling the suggestions feature? This could be a significant step in terms of user trust.”
The Nazi reference drew an immediate backlash, given that both Mr. Shapiro and PragerU founder Dennis Prager are Jewish, while Mr. Peterson has spoken out forcefully against anti-Semitism.
“Once again three militantly anti-white supremacy voices labeled pipelines to Nazism. This is insanity,” tweeted Mr. Shapiro.
Hey, @SusanWojcicki, would love to discuss this with you. Do you think your employees should be cavalierly labeling those who militantly hate white supremacy “Nazis,” and then shaping algorithms on the basis of such lies? https://t.co/8zy72ZdWXI
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) June 25, 2019
BREAKING: Leaked Google Document describes PragerU, @benshapiro and @jordanbpeterson as “Nazis using dogwhistles” https://t.co/RlG8bxuCct
— PragerU (@prageru) June 25, 2019
On Twitter, the National Rifle Association’s Dana Loesch called the email “insane,” while LiveAction’s Lila Rose said it was “incredibly troubling.”
Project Veritas posted Monday an undercover video showing two Google employees on hidden camera, as well as an unidentified “Google insider” who said the company has manipulated its search engine to pursue an agenda. Google has denied any political bias.
Google executive Jen Gennai, one of the two employees caught in the video sting, disputed the bias charge in a Monday post on Medium.
“Google has repeatedly been clear that it works to be a trustworthy source of information, without regard to political viewpoint,” said Ms. Gennai. “In fact, Google has no notion of political ideology in its rankings.”
The Washington Times has reached out to Google for comment.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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