By Sarah E. Needleman and Rob Copeland 

President Trump said the U.S. government would look into national-security concerns raised by billionaire investor and Facebook Inc. board member Peter Thiel about Google's ties to the China.

The statement, tweeted by Mr. Trump on Tuesday morning, came after Mr. Thiel, in a keynote speech Sunday at the National Conservatism Conference in Washington, D.C., called for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Central Intelligence Agency to investigate Alphabet Inc.'s Google unit, which he claimed is working with China's government instead of the U.S. military.

"Billionaire Tech Investor Peter Thiel believes Google should be investigated for treason," Mr. Trump said in the tweet, adding "The Trump Administration will take a look!"

Several hours later, in remarks to reporters at a White House cabinet meeting, Mr. Trump said he is encouraging Attorney General William Barr to look into the allegation and see "if there's any truth to it." A representative from the Justice Department couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

Mr. Thiel, an influential venture capitalist and co-founder of PayPal Holdings Inc., has long stood out in Silicon Valley as its most prominent conservative. He backed Mr. Trump's presidential campaign and later served as an adviser on his White House transition team.

In an interview Monday with Fox News Channel's Tucker Carlson, Mr. Thiel suggested Chinese intelligence agents are likely to have infiltrated Google as it works on an artificial-intelligence project in the country. Mr. Thiel, in the interview, didn't offer evidence that backed his claims.

"If you say you're building a Manhattan Project for AI, don't you think that would attract the interest of foreign intelligence agents?" Mr. Thiel said, referring to the World War II-era project that led to the development of the world's first atomic bombs.

"As we have said before, we do not work with the Chinese military," Google said in a statement. A Google representative declined to comment on whether the company works with the Chinese government.

Mr. Thiel's explosive remarks about a Silicon Valley rival caught some people close to him by surprise.

Mr. Thiel, who describes himself as libertarian, hasn't offered much criticism of Google before, publicly or privately, say two associates who have spoken to him recently. They said they didn't recall him ever mentioning the search giant's possible ties to China. Mr. Thiel didn't respond to requests for comment.

Google made a major retreat from China in 2010 when it pulled its search engine from the market in protest against the government's efforts to censor content and attempts to hack into email accounts of human-rights activists. Yet like Facebook and other tech giants, Google has tried to maintain a foothold in China in case that massive market ever opens up for business more broadly. It opened an artificial-intelligence lab in Beijing in 2017, a move aimed at attracting the country's tech talent.

Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai has said the company has cautiously approached ramping up business in the country. In October, he said plans for a Chinese search engine were at a "very early" stage and that Google hadn't committed to proceeding with the project.

The Trump administration's trade dispute with China and its tougher scrutiny of companies like Huawei Technologies Co. on national-security grounds have made Google's activities pertaining to China all the more fraught.

Mr. Trump's comments came only hours before executives from Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc., Facebook and Google were to appear on Capitol Hill for a range of hearings. Google's parent and other tech heavyweights have been grappling in recent months with increased scrutiny in Washington over such matters as privacy, security and competitive practices.

On Tuesday, a House panel examined whether their business behavior is stifling competition while a Senate panel heard comments from a Google executive and critics of the company on whether the search engine engages in censorship.

Earlier this year Mr. Trump said Google's CEO had expressed the company's commitment to the U.S. military and not the Chinese military during a White House meeting. The remarks followed allegations made by Sen. Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) that Google is working indirectly or even counter to U.S. interests in its efforts to increase business in China. The claim, made at a hearing in March, was reiterated in support by Marine Gen. Joe Dunford.

Last year, Google decided not to seek renewal of a Pentagon cloud-computing contract that had drawn criticism from some employees. The company also said it wouldn't allow its artificial-intelligence products to be used in any military weapons.

Speaking on Fox Business Network on Monday, Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, said he doesn't believe Google is treasonous. "I meet with Google's CEO on a regular basis. I think they're working for America, for our military, not for China," he said.

"Peter Thiel's a good man. He's been a great supporter of the Trump administration. He's a very smart guy," Mr. Kudlow said. "I'm just not sure where he's going on this, so I have my doubts, but one never knows."

Michael C. Bender contributed to this article.

Write to Sarah E. Needleman at sarah.needleman@wsj.com and Rob Copeland at rob.copeland@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 16, 2019 16:29 ET (20:29 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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