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Google Admits to Screening YouTube Stars' Questions for Obama

Google / AP
January 27, 2015

Google admitted it was involved in selecting which questions YouTube stars asked President Obama during a recent series of interviews organized by the company.

One of the interviewers, Hank Green of Vlog Brothers, confirmed in his own social media posting that Google had intervened in his question selection, BuzzFeed News reported.

Google was directly involved in choosing the questions President Obama was asked by three YouTube stars last Thursday.

One of the personalities, Hank Green, the creator of educational science videos, wrote Sunday that Google pushed him to ask tougher questions in his post-State of the Union interview with Obama.

"After I sent Google my first list of questions, they got back to me, pushing me to drop the soft-balls," he wrote on the website Medium.

Neither Green nor Google has released the first draft of questions, however. Previously, both Google and the White House said the administration was not involved in vetting the questions.

A Google representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday on Green’s assertion. On Friday, a Google official told BuzzFeed News the company helped the stars select questions that didn’t overlap those of the other stars, but didn’t generate the list of questions.
"The questions came from the creators and their audiences via their YouTube channels and other social media sources," the official said.
Both the White House and Google said Obama’s team did not vet the questions beforehand last week, or in any interview that Google has participated in with the White House.