Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) has been coming under fire recently on worries that the company is influencing search results to back a political agenda of sorts. It’s just one of many fresh worries revolving around big tech and social media, as well as how much power these corporations hold over our society.
One popular silicon valley billionaire is spearheading an attack against Google itself.Peter Thiel, billionaire investor and co-founder of PayPal, warned that Google is working with the Chinese military and that the tech giants need to be investigated by the CIA and FBI.
In a recent interview with Fox News, Thiel accused many of Google’s executives and other personnel of creating a political culture in the company that he describes as “globalist,” “cosmopolitan,” and “post-national” while adding that the tech giant was “incredibly insular” as well as “incurious” and the real problems outside of the silicon valley bubble.
“I think it is unprecedented in the last 1000 years or ever that major U.S. company refused to work with the U.S. military and has worked with our geopolitical rivals. This is not a liberal-conservative thing. This is absolutely unprecedented,” said Thiel in an interview with FOX News. He continued, referring to the fact that the tech giant refused to bid on the Department of Defense’s $10 billion JEDI contract back in 2018, claiming that it could violate its AI principles. “Google has a major AI research lab in China, where, even though it’s not working directly with the Chines military, in effect, all the technology gets handed on to the Chinese military…Anything that has civilian use must also be handed over to the People’s Liberation Army, the PLA.”
Thiel’s claims that Google has been indirectly or directly providing the Chinese government with it’s cutting edge AI technology hasn’t yet been confirmed by any U.S. intelligence agencies. The silicon valley billionaire, who also used to be an early investor in Facebook, has been a vocal supporter of President Trump as well as a critic of big tech social media giants.
Trump previously tweeted that his department will be paying close attention to Google after a former employee stated that the company was working to influence search results for the upcoming 2020 election. With rumors floating around that the U.S. Department of Justice is already planning an executive order to investigate these tech giants, this could be the beginning of a possible breakup of Google and it’s parent company Alphabet.
Google Company Profile
Alphabet is a holding company, with Google, the Internet media giant, as a wholly owned subsidiary. Google generates 99% of Alphabet revenue, of which more than 85% is from online ads. Google’s other revenue is from sales of apps and content on Google Play and YouTube, as well as cloud service fees and other licensing revenue.
Sales of hardware such as Chromebooks, the Pixel smartphone, and smart homes products, which include Nest and Google Home, also contribute to other revenue. Alphabet’s moonshot investments are in its other bets segment, where it bets on technology to enhance health (Verily), faster Internet access to homes (Google Fiber), self-driving cars (Waymo), and more. Alphabet’s operating margin has been 25%-30%, with Google at 30% and other bets operating at a loss. – Warrior Trading News
