https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/dr-robert-epstein-ramps-up-exposure-of-google-election-bias/"Dr. Robert Epstein ramps up exposure of Google election bias
Epstein's researchers previously found that biased results generated by Google’s search algorithm likely impacted undecided voters in a way that gave at least 2.6 million votes to Hillary Clinton and as many as 10.4 million.
Wed Jul 7, 2021 - 8:02 am EDT
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This story was originally published by the WND News Center
July 7, 2021 (WND News Center) – After finding that Google’s search-engine manipulation in the 2020 election could have shifted a minimum of 6 million votes to Democrat Joe Biden, Harvard-trained research psychologist and Democratic voter Robert Epstein turned his sites on the Georgia Senate elections.
For the first time — after having monitoring three national elections — he said in an interview with WND that his growing team of field agents found no political bias in Google’s search results.
But Epstein believes that’s a direct result of his monitoring efforts, and he plans to exponentially expand them.
“We went public in late October with monitoring, and it appears that we forced Google to back off on Georgia,” he told WND.
Epstein now is working on the establishment of a “permanent, large-scale monitoring system in all 50 states.” And he wants to have another system established by the end of this year to find out what the Big Tech companies “are showing our kids.”
“Next year, before the midterms, we would like to be building in as many states as possible the infrastructure for a large-scale permanent system,” he said, noting he is in conversation with potential funders.
It’s an expensive endeavor, but “the good news is we know how to do it,” said Epstein, a psychology professor at the American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology in Vista, California.
“That’s taken five years,” he said. “And we know it can have an impact on the content these companies are showing people.”
Meanwhile, Congress is not acting, said Epstein, with Democrats “in the pocket” of Big Tech and Republicans always hesitant to regulate business.
“So it’s a perfect storm here for perpetuating these irregularities,” he said.
Epstein opposes antitrust action, which often looks promising but turns out to be “just an example of regulatory capture,” meaning agencies acting in the interest of the business and not the public.
“It’s a classic mechanism by which large companies work with government agencies to craft laws, punishments and settlements that serve those companies,” he said.
“They will benefit the tech companies and not protect us.”
“These antitrust actions are about monopolies, protecting other businesses from being dominated by monopolies,” he said. “You could argue that consumers can benefit. But I don’t think any company can give us better search results.”
A better approach, he believes, is to make Big Tech bias a consumer-protection issue. But in Congress, “everyone moves where the money is.”
He said he asked a lawmaker why he had moved away from a consumer- protection approach to Big Tech.
“The answer was that he could get more support from colleagues by shifting to antitrust issues,” Epstein said. “What that comes down to is money.”
Epstein said he is creating a body of evidence that he hopes will bolster any action against the Big Tech giants.
“I think I turned a corner with these last elections. I think I have the evidence we need.”
Personal toll
Epstein, a registered Democrat who voted for Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden in the last two presidential elections, has paid a personal price for his work, which he sees as an effort to preserve free and fair elections and ultimately the republic itself.
Noting Google is “pervasive” in academia, he said a paper he recently submitted to a journal was rejected in a “very, very odd” process. Epstein, who pointed out he has been published in academic journals for 40 years and has been a reviewer himself, said one reviewer accepted his paper with only minor revisions. The other reviewer kept his or her identity secret, which he said he’s never seen in his entire career. That review recommended rejection, and the journal rejected the paper.
“I don’t think that’s allowed. I think it’s unethical. I’m protesting it loudly, but, of course, it raises some obvious questions,” he said.
“Was the secret review written by someone who receives financial support from Google?” he asked.
“Why would the journal editors take it seriously?” he said. “Do they have financial support from Google?”
He noted that in some cases he’s discovered that people writing negative reviews about his work are receiving support from Google.
WND asked Epstein about his January 2020 statements regarding the death of his wife, Misti Dawn Vaughn, in which he suggest it was not an accident.
He explained that after having given a private briefing in 2019 to state attorneys general, one of the AGs approached him and said, “I think, Dr. Epstein, that you are going to die in an accident in the next few months.”
It was a prediction, not a threat, Epstein clarified.
“Some of the data I had shared was very disturbing stuff, and if acted upon could be very problematic for Google and other companies.”
Epstein made it clear he is making no accusations, but he noted that not long after that warning, Misti died in an auto accident.
“That sequence was extremely disturbing,” he said, acknowledging that he and the people around him are “vulnerable.”
Invisible manipulation
Last month, Epstein gave a presentation of his work over the past five years to the annual meeting of the American Association of Behavioral and Social Sciences.
It was titled “Large-scale monitoring of Big Tech political manipulations in the 2020 Presidential election and 2021 Senate runoffs, and why monitoring is essential for democracy.”
He explained why he thinks the establishment of a permanent, large-scale monitoring system in all 50 states is essential.
“That is the only way to protect democracy, human autonomy and our descendents from invisible manipulation by Big Tech companies, now and in the decades to come,” he said in his presentation."
