According to Epstein, search engine companies both massively manipulate consumer and vote sentiment, and furthermore do so to ensure their favored candidates win.
[1][2][3] In response to the allegations, Google denied re-ranking search results to manipulate user sentiment, or tweaking ranking specially for elections or political candidates.
[4] However, a document that appears to be a leaked internal Google discussion thread, reportedly indicates that the tech giant regularly manipulates certain controversial search results.
Alternatively, a rogue employee who has sufficient authority and/or hacking skills could surreptitiously adjust the rankings.
[2] In experiments conducted in the United States, the proportion of people who favored any candidate rose by between 37 and 63 percent after a single search session.
[7] Later research suggested that search rankings impact virtually all issues on which people are initially undecided around the world.
[2] A UK experiment was conducted with nearly 4,000 people just before the 2015 national elections to examine ways to prevent manipulation.