Google accused of censoring Trump shooting

Wow, Google has a search ban on President Donald Trump!

Election interference? pic.twitter.com/dJzgVAAFZA

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 29, 2024

Google’s autocomplete feature has sparked controversy after failing to return relevant results for the recent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. Users searching for information on the July 13 shooting incident in Butler, Pennsylvania, reported that Google suggested results related to other historical events and figures instead. Screenshots shared on social media showed that the terms “Trump assassination attempt” yielded no additional relevant suggestions. This has led to accusations of intentional interference by the tech giant in the upcoming presidential election.

Google is becoming the face of the Deep State, and the Left in meddling with the elections to elect the candidate of their choice.https://t.co/cBkuohLk1W

— The Jaipur Dialogues (@JaipurDialogues) July 29, 2024

Donald Trump Jr., the former president’s eldest son, posted on X, formerly Twitter, while sharing a screengrab of Google’s autocomplete predictions: “Big Tech is trying to interfere in the election AGAIN to help Kamala Harris. We all know this is intentional election interference from Google. Truly despicable.”

What do you call it when the world’s biggest search engine erases facts?https://t.co/YsxG6etJhO

— Michele Tafoya (@Michele_Tafoya) July 28, 2024

Why is @Google suppressing the search about the Trump assassination attempt? These are all screenshots from this morning. Has there been a dramatic increase in Truman biographers in the last two weeks?

I’ll be making an official inquiry into @google this week – I look forward… pic.twitter.com/GD5SOvvcdX

— Dr. Roger Marshall (@RogerMarshallMD) July 28, 2024

Kansas Senator Roger Marshall said he would be making an “official inquiry” about the lack of mention of the assassination attempt against Trump in Google’s autocomplete section. “Why is Google suppressing the search about the Trump assassination attempt? These are all screenshots from this morning,” Marshall tweeted. “Has there been a dramatic increase in Truman biographers in the last two weeks?” In response, a Google spokesperson said there was no “manual action taken on these predictions.” The spokesperson explained that Google’s systems have protections against autocomplete predictions associated with political violence.

Google’s autocomplete controversy explained

These systems were working as intended before the event occurred. The company is currently working on improvements to ensure their systems are more current. “Autocomplete is just a tool to help people save time,” the spokesperson added. “People can still search for anything they want. Following this terrible act, people turned to Google to find high-quality information – we connected them with helpful results and will continue to do so.” This incident adds to the ongoing debate over the role of major tech companies in shaping public discourse and their impact on the political landscape. In the past, companies like Google have been accused of silencing conservative voices and omitting search results that could be harmful to Democratic figures. In July 2021, Trump filed lawsuits against Google, Twitter, and Facebook, alleging the tech companies were unlawfully silencing conservative voices. “We are demanding an end to the shadow-banning, a stop to the silencing, and a stop to the blacklisting, banishing, and canceling that you know so well,” Trump said at the time. Those lawsuits were later dismissed in the courts. As the 2024 US presidential elections approach, there are rising concerns about the influence of major tech companies like Google and X (formerly Twitter) on the electoral process. Allegations of bias and interference have been directed at these companies, prompting significant public discourse and investigations.