Yesterday, leaked footage from a Google company meeting (that occurred immediately after the 2016 presidential election) made the rounds on the internet. Typically, in “all-hands-on-deck” meetings like the one featured in the video, employees and managers get together to discuss any pressing issues that the company faces – be it day-to-day operational matters, or big picture concepts.
But due to the leaked meeting’s proximity to President Trump’s election, it had a completely different set of topics, and an alarmingly non-business-like tone.
Instead of talking about things that could benefit Google (and by proxy, investors), a visibly distraught Larry Page (co-founder of Google) opened the event by remarking how “most people here are pretty upset and pretty sad” when referring to the outcome of the election.
Google is an overwhelmingly liberal company, like the rest of the Silicon Valley corporations, and Page was simply acknowledging the fact that the majority of his employees weren’t too happy about the new President-elect.
And from my point of view, that’s nothing to get mad about. He’s simply someone who is disappointed that things didn’t go as he had hoped, like many voters who opposed Trump (and continue to do so). If he wanted to let the election ruin his day, that’s his choice.
However, what followed after Page’s opening remarks is a completely different story.
Because it’s not only troubling, but downright frightening as well – especially when you consider Google’s monopoly over internet search and the flow of information.
Following Page, Sergey Brin (the other Google co-founder), Eileen Naughton and Kent Walker (Google vice presidents), Ruth Porat (CFO), and Sundar Pichai (CEO) all spoke one after another, formulating a plan that leverages their multinational corporation’s assets in a way to actively suppress Trump and his supporters.
The most notable remark of the meeting, though, that set the tone for the rest of the speakers, was from co-founder Sergey Brin himself. He asked his employees and fellow leaders to think of ways to encourage “better quality of governance and decision-making.”
Or in other words, let’s use Google’s algorithms to selectively promote content and websites that operate on our side of the fence, while silencing the rest.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai
And of course, shortly after, CEO Sundar Pichai said that Google was currently in the process of developing artificial intelligence and machine learning technology that could screen out “misinformation” shared by “low-information voters.”
In this case, he means conservatives creating content that doesn’t jive with Google’s globalist world view.
Google controls the vast majority of internet search traffic, and if they’re actively trying to shift public opinion (like I think they very well could be), they could be doing something extremely dangerous to our well-being – and here’s why:
The last time you needed to know something, what did you do?
Did you look it up in the encyclopedia?
Did you go to a library?
No, chances are, you googled it. It’s fast, it’s easy, and most of all – it’s free.
I mean, come on, it even has its own verb!
And though Google algorithms have done a good job in the past at returning the information you (and millions of other users) desired, it’s highly unsettling to think that some of it could have been tampered with – all to push one political ideology over another, in a completely unethical way.
It’s because of this that Alphabet Inc may be staring down a long battle with regulatory bodies, scorned former employees, and controversy at the hands of conservative web users – something that can’t be good for business.
Now, I’m not saying that Google is primed for a crash, or anything even close to that.
Despite doing some pretty nasty things these last few years, the company is still an essential part of the internet that won’t be going away any time soon.
What I am saying, however, is that GOOG could be set for a rollercoaster ride these next few weeks as investors (many of whom being conservative) start to lose faith in the search engine stalwart. After the video originally leaked on Breitbart, GOOG shares fell before closing out trading down 1.23% on the day.
And honestly, I don’t blame investors for panic selling in this case – video proof of a company’s desire to subvert a democratic election typically isn’t recognized as a good thing.
Regardless of which way Alphabet Inc is headed, though, I know one thing for sure:
In chaos, lies opportunity – especially if you’ve got a time-tested trading method to take advantage of it.
And if you’re not sure what to do when GOOG share prices go haywire, you could always ask Google.
Or, on second thought, maybe not.
