Google is Giving People Bad, Fossil Fuel-Funded Info on the Green New Deal

A conservative think tank with funding from the fossil fuel industry put out a cost estimate seemingly intended to cause sticker shock atop search results.

Google is Giving People Bad, Fossil Fuel-Funded Info on the Green New Deal
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) addresses The Road to the Green New Deal Tour event at Howard University, May 13, 2019.

For the past two years, people who Google the term “cost of Green New Deal” have seen at the top of their results a price tag of $93 trillion. 

This figure comes from something called the American Action Forum (AAF), which is described by sites like Wikipedia and FactCheck as “center-right” or “conservative.” In Google search results, the “featured snippet” up top about the Green New Deal references Wikipedia and says AAF estimates the cost at $600,000 per household. This is probably when many internet searchers close the tab. Other searchers see a sponsored ad from the R Street Institute, titled “Big Problems in Green New Deal,” that warns of potential costs to consumers. 

Read the post at The Brick House Cooperative.