Amazon accused of 'pushing propaganda' after mum asks Alexa for celebrities - and is given Trump, Vance and Musk
20 March 2025, 19:19 | Updated: 20 March 2025, 19:51
Amazon has been accused of 'pushing propaganda' after users in the United States were read a list of Republican politicians when asked to name 'celebrities' and 'famous people'.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
In a video uploaded to Instagram by Alexa user Leah Ova, the US mother posed the question: "Should my daughter go as Donald Trump for Spirit Day? Let me explain..."
Expanding on the issue, Ms Ova explained that she decided to use the Amazon device and linked voice app to come up with fancy dress ideas for her daughter's 'Spirit Day' fancy dress outfit.
Asking the AI device to name 'celebrities', the app's voice replied with a list comprised almost entirely of Republicans, including Donald Trump, Elon Musk, JD Vance and staunch Trump supporter Karoline Levitt.
Looking visibly concerned, she replied: "That was like propaganda from Amazon, right?"
Read more: Prince William in Estonia to support British troops on Russian border and give backing to Ukraine
Read more: JD Vance claims UK is 'stagnating because of its immigration' in scathing speech
It comes as the leaders of some of the US's biggest tech companies - including Google, Amazon, Facebook and Open AI - stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Trump on the day of his inauguration, raising questions over the motives behind such a move.
Just a day later, Facebook and Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg was seen to scrap all independent fact checkers on Facebook and Instagram.
The fact checkers were then replaced with X-style "community notes" - causing widespread concern over social media accuracy and exploitation in the form of propaganda.
Asking again but rephrasing her question - given the mum highlights Alexa can often respond to answers using "little groups" of answers that are categorised and can often be repeated - she instead asked: "Alexa, can you name some famous people?"
The device once again produced the same answers, including that of recently deceased director David Lynch.
"Would we say Karoline Levitt was a famous person?" she questions to the camera, adding: "That's odd, right?"
"I was thinking it was going to be Taylor Swift, Michael Jordan, Oprah..."
Her video was met by widespread condemnation by Instagram users, with one writing: "How are government officials now considered celebrities? [crying emoji]"
Another responded: "Propaganda af."
While a third wrote: "My alexa just answered the questioned the SAME WAY."
A fourth Instagram user echoed her response, writing: "My Alexa heard you and answered the same as yours. PROPAGANDA 100.
"It's sad that they have to make sure people THINK they're a big deal. You could dress her as a turd with a trump or musk name tag? It would be pretty funny."
Another user said she received the same results, with the addition of a note saying the information was scraped from popular Wikipedia articles.
LBC has reached out to Amazon for comment.
It comes soon after a diplomatic row has erupted between France and the US after a French researcher was expelled from the country for expressing "a personal opinion" on Trump.
The academic, who was on assignment from the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), was detained by officers and later deported after landing at George Bush International Airport in Houston, Texas, ahead of a conference on March 9.
Pulled him aside for questioning by US border officials, reports suggest the space researcher was selected at random for a search, which saw him taken into a side room.
There, his personal mobile phone and work computer were confiscated and searched by authorities, with messages discussing Trump's treatment of scientists found on his device.
