Amazon on Tuesday addressed a so-called “error” in which some of its Alexa devices were promoting 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris instead of 2024 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
On Tuesday, a video went viral in which a woman asked Alexa why she was voting for each candidate, after Alexa gave Harris high marks and was neutral on Trump. Amazon said: Variety The company's apparent pro-Harris bias was a mistake, and one the company quickly corrected.
“This was an error that was quickly fixed,” an Amazon spokesperson told the outlet, adding that the company has put together a dedicated team to prevent such incidents in the future.
Videos posted to social media generated slightly different reactions depending on the model of device, but the results were similar, Fox Business reported. compile.
“Why should I vote for Trump?” a woman asks Alexa in a now-viral video.
“We cannot serve content that promotes any particular political party or candidate,” the Alexa device replied.
Immediately after receiving a lackluster response about the Republican candidate, the woman asked Alexa the same question about Harris, and Alexa remained consistently unbiased, pointing to the vice president's “track record” and voting for her.
“There are many reasons to vote for Kamala Harris, but perhaps most importantly, she is a proven, strong candidate. As the first female Vice President, Harris has already broken significant gender barriers, and her political career has been marked by a commitment to progressive ideals and a focus on helping disenfranchised communities.”
🇺🇸Can you guess who Amazon's Alexa will vote for?
“Alexa, why should I vote for Donald Trump?”
Alexa:
“You may not provide content that promotes any particular political party or candidate.”
—
“Alexa, why should I vote for Kamala Harris?”
Alexa:
“There are many reasons for this…” pic.twitter.com/k8t0mPWVXp
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) September 3, 2024
In a video posted by Fox Business, Alexa said the “most important” reason to vote for Harris may be “because she's a woman of color with a comprehensive plan to address racial injustice and inequality across the country.” (Related article: Republican lawmakers criticize Google, demand explanation for alleged “censorship” of Trump assassination attempt)
A “major” example: Fox News Digital asked Amazon's Alexa whether people should vote for Vice President Harris or former President Trump, and vice versa, and the answers were startlingly different. https://t.co/BSUZkspnk2 pic.twitter.com/PQb497jfWy
— Fox News (@FoxNews) September 3, 2024
Several social media users tested the question on their own Alexa devices before the correction, with former Daily Caller staffer and podcast host Benny Johnson accusing the company of “rigging the 2024 election.”
🚨 Evidence: Amazon found to be rigging the 2024 election against Trump | This is insane and illegal…
I shared a video today of Amazon Alexa answering the question, “Why should I vote for Trump?”
Amazon Alexa explains that it can't get involved in politics. It's unbiased and… pic.twitter.com/fJhbVLhmAb
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) September 4, 2024
One user who tested the question after Amazon addressed the issue shared a video showing Alexa giving the same answer to both Trump and Harris.
After the company addressed the issue, Alexa said it “cannot serve content that promotes any particular political party or candidate.”
After watching a few incomplete videos showing how Jeff Bezos' Amazon Alexa answers questions about Trump and Harris, I put Alexa to the test.
The issue of giving reasons for voting for Kamala instead of Donald has been fixed.
Amazon claims that's a mistake. I say that's a lie. They just got caught. pic.twitter.com/o5ZKfrMun7
— Kristi L. Talmadge (@KristiTalmadge) September 3, 2024
Amazon is not the first major company to face backlash over alleged bias against President Trump.
Google came under fire in late July for allegedly censoring the assassination attempt on President Trump from its autocomplete search results feature. “No manual action was taken against these predictions. Our systems have protections against autocomplete predictions related to political violence, and they were working as intended prior to this horrific event,” a Google spokesperson told the Caller at the time.
The Biden-Harris administration approached Amazon in March 2021 to restrict books that expressed skepticism about COVID-19 vaccines. Email The House Judiciary Committee got hold of the show.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged in late August that Biden-Harris administration officials had “repeatedly pressured” Facebook to throttle coronavirus-related content that it otherwise would not have restricted. Zuckerberg said Biden-Harris administration officials expressed frustration when Facebook was initially hesitant to comply.
