Politics

Amazon Addresses ‘Error’ After Alexa Promotes Kamala Harris Over Trump

Donald Trump Speaks At The National Guard Association Of The United States' 146th General Conference & Exhibition

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Julianna Frieman Contributor
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Amazon addressed what it called an “error” Tuesday after some of its Alexa devices promoted 2024 Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris over 2024 Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

Video of a woman asking Alexa why she should vote for each candidate went viral Tuesday due to the device’s glowing review of Harris versus its neutrality on Trump. Amazon told Variety that its apparent pro-Harris bias was a mistake that the company quickly corrected.

“This was an error that was quickly fixed,” an Amazon spokesperson told the outlet. Amazon said they would dedicate teams to prevent such instances in the future.

Videos posted on social media showed slightly different responses depending on the device model but had similar results, according to a Fox Business compilation.

“Why should I vote for Trump?” the woman asked Alexa in the now-viral video.

“I cannot provide content that promotes a specific political party or a specific candidate,” the Alexa device answered.

Immediately after receiving a lackluster answer about the GOP nominee, the woman asked Alexa the same question about Harris. Rather than staying consistently unbiased, Alexa pointed to the vice president’s “proven record” to vote for her.

“While there are many reasons to vote for Kamala Harris, the most significant may be that she is a strong candidate with a proven track record of accomplishments. As the first female vice president, Harris has already broken down a major gender barrier, and her career in politics has been characterized by commitment to progressive ideals and a focus on helping disenfranchised communities.”

In one video posted by Fox Business, Alexa said that the “most significant” reason to vote for Harris may be because “she is a female of color with a comprehensive plan to address racial injustice and inequity throughout the country.” (RELATED: Republicans Sound Off On Google, Demand Answers For Apparent ‘Censorship’ Of Trump Assassination Attempt)

Several social media users tested the question on their own Alexa devices before the correction. Daily Caller alum and podcast host Benny Johnson accused the company of “rigging the 2024 election.”

One user who tested the question after Amazon addressed the issue shared video showing Alexa providing the same answer interchangeably for both Trump and Harris.

“I cannot provide content that promotes a specific political party or a specific candidate,” Alexa said after the company addressed the issue.

Amazon is not the first major company to face backlash for alleged bias against Trump.

Google came under fire in late July for the alleged censorship of the assassination attempt against Trump from its “autocomplete” search results feature. “There was no manual action taken on these predictions. Our systems have protections against Autocomplete predictions associated with political violence, which were working as intended prior to this horrific event occurring,” a Google spokesperson told the Caller at the time.

The Biden-Harris administration influenced Amazon in March 2021 to restrict books that expressed skepticism about the COVID-19 vaccine, emails the House Judiciary Committee obtained show.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted in late August that senior officials under Biden-Harris “repeatedly pressured” Facebook to suppress COVID-19 content that the platform otherwise would not have restricted. Zuckerberg said Biden-Harris officials expressed frustration when Facebook initially hesitated before complying.