{"id":235,"date":"2026-05-20T07:06:01","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T07:06:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hometransferguide.com\/?p=235"},"modified":"2026-05-20T07:06:01","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T07:06:01","slug":"rooke-amid-race-everyones-watching-big-tech-malfunction-sparks-criticism-for-election-interference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hometransferguide.com\/?p=235","title":{"rendered":"ROOKE: Amid Race Everyone\u2019s Watching, Big Tech \u2018Malfunction\u2019 Sparks Criticism For Election Interference"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div><!-- \/10519169\/dailycaller_incontent_1 --> <\/p>\n<p>Amid the final weeks before Los Angeles voters head to the polls for the mayoral primary, Google Maps quietly reverted satellite imagery of Pacific Palisades and other neighborhoods devastated by the 2025 fires to pre-fire photos.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/hometransferguide.com\/?p=233\">\u2018Married At First Sight UK\u2019 Canceled Amid Allegations Of Rape<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Lush greenery and intact homes replaced the charred neighborhoods that had accurately reflected the destruction for over a year. Critics accuse Google of altering its map photos to remove visual evidence of the fires that decimated the area in order to \u201cmanipulate\u201d the mayoral race.<\/p>\n<p>Machina Labs CEO Edward Mehr posted on X side-by-side Google Maps screenshots of his neighborhood near Sunset Boulevard from before and after the fires. The problem is that the \u201cbefore\u201d photo was the most recent photo available on the app.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cApparently Google decided \u2018showing current reality\u2019 might not be ideal for reelection optics of LA mayor? So now Google Maps is serving pre fire images for parts of LA us and our neighbors live,\u201d Mehr said.<\/p>\n<p> <!-- \/10519169\/dailycaller_incontent_2 --> <\/p>\n<p>Political commentator Mike Cernovich posted the story on X, accusing Google of trying to \u201cmanipulate the LA mayoral election,\u201d adding that this will \u201chelp elect communists and destroy the country.\u201d <strong>(RELATED: Google\u2019s New Fact-Check Feature Almost Exclusively Targets Conservative Sites)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cGoogle is attempting to manipulate the LA mayoral election,\u201d Cernovich continued. \u201cWhy should they be given massive tax breaks and data centers?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Republican Florida Sen. Rick Scott demanded answers from Sundar Pichai, CEO of both Google and parent company Alphabet, calling the potential election manipulation \u201cridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/10519169\/dailycaller_incontent_3 --> <\/p>\n<p>Google\u2019s official X news account responded to Scott, claiming the app posted the pre-fire imagery by accident.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/hometransferguide.com\/?p=231\">NFL Continues Expansion Outside America With 10 International Games Approved For 2027<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis issue has been fixed. Post-fire imagery is rolling out again now across Google Maps and Earth. For context: This technical issue was triggered by a recent, routine update to satellite imagery, which accidentally restored old imagery from before the fires,\u201d Google claimed. <strong>(<em>Sign up for Mary Rooke\u2019s weekly newsletter here!<\/em>)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Some didn\u2019t take Google\u2019s supposed explanation at face value, like Hunter Weiss, video creator, director, and founder of WE!SS, a creative studio based in New York City.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re telling me both neighborhoods that burned to the ground in Los Angeles had their maps magically reverted to pre-burn satellite images while both were labeled 2026 at the bottom? not believable. Even the new \u2018update\u2019 forces you to zoom all the way in as close as possible,\u201d Weiss said.<\/p>\n<p>The Palisades and Eaton fires burned over 16,000 structures, killing 31 people and destroying about 13,000 homes and other residential properties. The fires have been a focal point of the Los Angeles Mayoral election, with viral mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt condemning\u00a0Mayor Karen Bass (who is seeking reelection) for her leadership during the blaze.<\/p>\n<p>This isn\u2019t Google\u2019s first brush with accusations of tilting the political scales. For years, the company has faced criticism for suppressing conservative voices and candidates in search results. <strong>(RELATED: Google Suspends Fact Check Project, Crediting TheDCNF Investigation With Decision)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>During past election cycles, studies and congressional scrutiny highlighted how Google buried Republican campaign websites while elevating Democratic ones. One analysis from MRC  that multiple GOP candidates\u2019 sites were hidden from the first page of results, while their opponents dominated the top spots.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/hometransferguide.com\/?p=229\">Chiefs\u2019 Rashee Rice Jailed For 30 Days Following Probation Violation; Will Miss OTAs, Minicamp<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Follow Mary Rooke on X: @MaryRooke<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Sign up for Mary Rooke\u2019s weekly newsletter here!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Google Maps quietly reverted satellite imagery of Pacific Palisades and other Los Angeles neighborhoods devastated by the 2025 fires to pre-fire photos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":234,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[166,476,477,478,112,479,480,481,482],"class_list":["post-235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting","tag-california","tag-eaton-fire","tag-google","tag-google-maps","tag-los-angeles-wildfires","tag-mike-cernovich","tag-pacific-palisades","tag-rick-scott","tag-sundar-pichai"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - 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