Truth Social's AI Search Engine Heavily Favors Fox News
Truth Social, the social media platform founded by Donald Trump, has entered the burgeoning field of artificial intelligence with the launch of “Truth Search AI,” a new search feature now in public beta testing on its web platform. This move, powered by the AI startup Perplexity, is positioned by Trump Media as a direct challenge to the dominance of “Big Tech” and a critical component of what CEO Devin Nunes terms the “Patriot Economy.” However, early observations suggest the new AI search engine consistently favors conservative media sources, most notably Fox News.
The introduction of Truth Search AI marks Truth Social’s ambition to expand its digital ecosystem beyond social networking, offering users an “answer engine” that provides concise, cited responses rather than just a list of links. This approach aligns with a broader industry trend where major tech players like Google and OpenAI are integrating generative AI into their search functionalities. Devin Nunes, CEO of Trump Media, emphasized the platform’s commitment to refining the AI’s functionalities based on user feedback, with plans to roll out the feature to iOS and Android apps in the near future.
Despite the stated aim of providing “direct, reliable answers with transparent citations,” initial tests conducted by various outlets indicate a strong ideological leaning in the search results. Reports highlight that Truth Search AI predominantly sources information from right-leaning outlets such as Fox News and Epoch Times, leading to concerns that the feature could reinforce existing echo chambers for its conservative audience. This selective curation of content is a significant point of contention, as it shapes the information landscape presented to users.
The partnership with Perplexity, an AI company whose chief business officer Dmitry Shevelenko stated their AI is developed to empower curiosity by delivering “direct, reliable answers with transparent citations,” raises questions about the neutrality of AI tools. It has been clarified that Truth Social maintains “complete control over how the tool is set-up,” utilizing Perplexity’s Sonar API which allows for customization, including source restrictions. This suggests that the observed bias is a deliberate outcome of Truth Social’s configuration rather than an inherent leaning of Perplexity’s core technology, although some research indicates Perplexity’s general AI model tends to exhibit a conservative bias compared to other leading AI models.
Furthermore, Perplexity itself has faced scrutiny over its data acquisition practices, including accusations of plagiarism and using “stealth and undeclared crawlers” to bypass website protections. Several prominent media organizations, including News Corp (Dow Jones & Co.) and The New York Times, have initiated lawsuits against Perplexity for alleged copyright infringement. These controversies surrounding Perplexity’s methods add another layer of complexity to the ethical considerations of Truth Social’s new AI search engine.
While the primary concern remains the potential for political bias, some independent tests, such as those by 404Media, have yielded instances where Truth Search AI provided unexpectedly critical responses to politically sensitive queries, suggesting it may not be uniformly biased in all contexts. Nevertheless, the overarching trend of favoring conservative sources in its answer generation positions Truth Search AI as a distinct, ideologically aligned alternative in the rapidly evolving landscape of AI-powered information retrieval. This development underscores the ongoing tension between technological innovation and the imperative for balanced, diverse information in an increasingly polarized digital world.