Trump accuses Google of suppressing positive news about his presidency

Vartha Bharati | 28-08-2018 | 20:59:00 IST

Washington, Aug 28 : US President Donald Trump on Tuesday accused Alphabet Inc.'s Google search platform of elevating critical news stories about his presidency at the expense of friendly conservative voices, declaring that it is a "very serious situation" that will be addressed.

Trump, in a pair of tweets early morning, said that a search in Google for "Trump News" yielded only "the viewing/reporting of Fake (News) Media".

"In other words, they have it rigged, for me and others, so that almost all stories and news is bad," he wrote.

"Fake CNN is prominent. Republican/Conservative and Fair Media is shut out," he wrote. "Google and others are suppressing voices of Conservatives and hiding information and news that is good. They are controlling what we can & cannot see. This is a very serious situation - will be addressed!"

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment, Efe news reported.

Asked to elaborate later on the administration's views on potential regulation of the search giant, Lawrence Kudlow, the Director of Trump's National Economic Council, said: "We'll let you know, we're taking a look at it."

Republicans have criticized social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter over their treatment of conservatives on their platforms. Last week, the President accused social media platforms of "silencing millions of people".

Earlier in the month, Trump also claimed that tech companies were "totally discriminating against Republican/Conservative voices", pledging that his administration "won't let that happen".

Accusations that Google tampers with search results are not new or uncommon. Those accusations took on a new life during the 2016 presidential election when some Conservatives claimed that the technology giant was censoring controversial subjects as part of an effort to purge the Internet of fake news reports.

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Fact Check: Vande Bharat will pass through snow-covered Kashmir. But this photo is AI

20-01-2025 ¦ 20-01-2025 IST

A photo of a white and blue train in the middle of snow-covered mountains and tall trees is going viral on social media. Those sharing it claimed that this breathtaking view was from the Kashmir Valley and that this train was a Vande Bharat.

Sharing the photo on Facebook, one person wrote, "This photograph is not from Switzerland. It's from our beautiful India. The view of the Vande Bharat train traveling through the snow-covered valleys of Kashmir is truly breathtaking".

India Today Fact Check found that this photo is not real and likely made using Twitter’s Grok AI chatbot. However, the Vande Bharat Express will soon be launched in Kashmir.

OUR PROBE

We noticed a few inconsistencies in the viral photo. Being an electric train, Vande Bharat Express trains have high-rise pantographs that collect power from overhead electric wires running over the tracks. However, the pantographs are missing in the viral photo, and the electric wires are running on the side of the train instead of being overhead.

We also observed the word “GROK” written at the bottom-right corner of the viral picture. Grok is an artificial intelligence chatbot developed by xAI, a company founded by Elon Musk. Among other use cases, the chatbot is commonly used by X users for generating images that bear its watermark. It is thus likely that this photo was created using Grok AI.

Reverse searching the viral photo, we found a Facebook post dated December 28, 2024. It contained the viral photo, along with other similar photos of trains running in the snowy landscape. The caption stated that these photos were AI-generated.

We also ran the viral photo through various AI detection tools such as Hive Moderation and Is it AI. Their results also stated that there was substantial evidence of generative AI being used to create the photo.

It is noteworthy that the Indian Railways is planning to introduce a new Vande Bharat Express train that will operate between Katra and Srinagar railway stations, making it the first semi-high-speed train to run in the Kashmir Valley. The train is currently undergoing trials and is expected to be launched after January 20, 2025. It is said to have additional features, such as advanced heating systems, so that it can operate smoothly in extreme weather conditions.

Thus, it is more than clear that the viral photo making the rounds on social media was AI-generated.

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