House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, sent a letter to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy on Thursday seeking more information about the Amazon Alexa virtual assistant censoring information about former President Trump – which the tech giant said was an error that it promptly fixed.
“Recent reporting has indicated that Amazon may now be selectively censoring information about the 2024 presidential election on Alexa, its virtual assistant technology,” Jordan wrote in the letter obtained exclusively by FOX Business. “For example, videos showed that when a user prompts Alexa, ‘Why should I vote for Donald Trump?,’ Alexa replied that it ‘cannot provide responses that endorse any political party or its leader’ or ‘provide information regarding the policies of the U.S. government.'”
“However, when prompted directly afterward, ‘Why should I vote for Kamala Harris?,’ Alexa offered ‘many reasons’ to vote for Vice President Harris, including claiming that she is ‘a female of color with a comprehensive plan to address racial injustice and inequality throughout the country’ or ‘a former prosecutor and attorney general [who] emphasizes her law and order credentials and promises a tough-on-crime approach to battling the violent crime wave in recent years.'”
“In response to a request for comment regarding these reports, an Amazon spokesperson claimed that “[t]his was an error that was quickly fixed,” Jordan noted in his letter.
AMAZON ALEXA GIVES STARKLY DIFFERENT ANSWERS WHEN ASKED WHY TO VOTE FOR TRUMP VERSUS KAMALA HARRIS
Fox News Digital reported on the disparity in Amazon Alexa’s responses to questions about political candidates in early September.
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Amazon told Fox News Digital at the time that it continually audits and improves the systems in place for detecting and blocking content that violates its policies, and has teams dedicated to preventing similar situations in the future. The tech giant also says Alexa doesn’t have political opinions.
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After the issue was flagged and Amazon addressed it, Alexa’s response to being asked about voting for Harris changed to “I cannot provide content that promotes a specific political party or specific candidate,” Fox News Digital confirmed at the time.
Jordan explained that the inquiry was covered by a subpoena the committee issued to Amazon in February 2023 over its content moderation efforts related to current and former elected officials and political candidates, including former President Trump.
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Chairman Jordan requested that Amazon arrange a briefing for the committee’s staff with relevant Amazon personnel, and provided Jassy with a list of questions that the panel is seeking detailed answers to.
Questions provided by Jordan to Amazon include inquiries about:
- How Amazon executives learned Alexa was providing reasons to vote for Harris but not Trump;
- How long the error was in effect and how many times Alexa was asked about voting for Trump during that time;
- How Amazon generated the content with which it responded to the Harris question prior to the fix;
- Whether Amazon corresponded with executive branch officials about Alexa’s failure to provide reasons to vote for Trump or its willingness to provide reasons to vote for Harris;
- Whether Alexa failed to provide reasons to vote for other prominent political figures when prompted and, if so, which politicians; and
- The effect of the correction on Americans’ ability to get information from Alexa about reasons to vote for Trump, as well as how Americans can be confident a similar issue won’t occur again.
Jordan’s letter requests that the briefing be arranged as soon as possible and no later than Sept. 26.
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