Tech giants like Google and Facebook could swing an election in the United States without the public or government authorities being able to detect it, said psychologist and search engine manipulation expert Dr. Robert Epstein, at Breitbart News’ first town hall event on big tech on Thursday evening.

“The more information these companies have about us, the more easily they can manipulate us – that is, shift our opinions, our attitudes, our beliefs, our purchases and our votes.”

“We estimated that if these companies were all working together and supporting the same candidate, and really pulling out all the stops and using all the methods they have to manipulate, they could shift 10 percent of the voting population of America, with no-one knowing that they had done this, and without leaving a paper trail for authorities to track.”

“10 percent could be shifted — that’s a lot of votes, with no-one knowing that they’ve done this.”

Epstein also talked about how the tech giants are already interfering in politics.

“The fact is, we don’t know what rules they’re applying. There’s lots of evidence now that they are systematically suppressing political views that they don’t like. And not just on the right, by the way, but progressives as well – they just go after anyone they want to and there’s nothing we can do about it, there’s no recourse.”

Allum Bokhari is the senior technology correspondent at Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter, Gab.ai and add him on Facebook. Email tips and suggestions to allumbokhari@protonmail.com.