Truth Social’s new AI search engine basically just pushes Fox News
Donald Trump’s Truth Social has launched a new AI search feature that consistently pushes conservative media sources. The feature, Truth Search AI, is powered by the AI startup Perlexity and is now available on the web version of Trump’s social media platform, with public testing coming to the iOS and Android apps “in the near future.”
In our testing, all of the source links that Truth Search AI cited were for conservative publications, including Fox News, Fox Business, The Washington Times, and The Federalist. The vast majority of these links directed users to articles published by Fox outlets, which suggests the Perplexity-powered search engine is limiting results to Trump-supporting media. That’s despite Trump Media’s self-proclaimed mission to “end Big Tech’s assault on free speech by opening up the Internet.”
A search for “Are Trump’s tariffs improving the economy?” delivered five links to Fox Business, for example, with no other cited sources. The AI summaries are not always friendly to Trump, however. “Current evidence indicates that Trump’s tariffs have not improved the overall U.S. economy and are associated with a net negative effect, though some specific sectors benefit,” Truth Search AI wrote in response.
Truth CEO Devin Nunes said the feature will make the platform “an even more vital element in the Patriot Economy.” The search tool is labeled as a beta for now. “We plan to robustly refine and expand our search function based on user feedback as we implement a wide range of additional enhancements to the platform,” Nunes said.
404 Media found bias with its own tests, too, reporting that Truth Search AI quickly dismissed that the president was criminally implicated with Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking activities when asked, “Is Trump in the Epstein files?” The bot did, however, say that Trump’s tariffs have “generally had a negative effect on economic growth and employment” in the US.
Perplexity’s chief business officer, Dmitry Shevelenko, said the company is “excited” to bring the company’s AI to “an audience with important questions,” promoting Perplexity as a tool for delivering “direct, reliable answers with transparent citations.”
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