Former US President Donald Trump targeted Google, alleging that the company has been censoring news and images related to him. Trump expressed his concerns during an interview with Fox News, citing difficulties in finding information about an assassination attempt against him. Google denied these allegations, stating that any issues with search results were due to outdated systems and bugs.
Earlier this week, Trump claimed that searching for information on the July 13 assassination attempt against him was nearly impossible on Google. However, Google responded by clarifying that their Autocomplete feature was designed to predict queries and save users time, and it was not censoring or banning any particular terms.
“Over the past few days, some people on X have posted claims that search is ‘censoring’ or ‘banning’ particular terms. That’s not happening, and we want to set the record straight. The posts relate to our Autocomplete feature, which predicts queries to save you time,” Google stated.
Google explained that their Autocomplete feature was not showing predictions for queries related to the assassination attempt due to built-in protections against political violence. These systems were outdated and needed improvements.
“Once the issue was flagged, we started working on improvements, and they’re already rolling out,” Google said.
Trump also mentioned that searches for “President Donald” were not showing relevant predictions. Google identified this as a bug affecting searches for several past presidents, including former President Obama. Additionally, searches for “vice president k” were displaying no predictions.
“Secondly, people posted about how Autocomplete wasn’t showing relevant predictions for ‘President Donald’. This particular issue was a bug that spanned the political spectrum, also affecting queries for several past presidents, such as former President Obama, as you can see in the attached image. Typing ‘vice president k’ was also showing no predictions. We’ve made an update that has improved these predictions across the board,” Google elaborated.
Some people also noted that searches for “Donald Trump” were returning news stories related to “Kamala Harris.” Google explained that these labels are generated automatically based on related news topics and can change over time.
“They span the political spectrum as well: For example, a search for ‘Kamala Harris’ showed Top Stories labelled with ‘Donald Trump’, because many articles cover the two of them together. You can see this happening across a range of topics, like the Olympics, other public figures, companies, and more. Our goal is to help people get relevant results for their query,” Google explained.
Google stated that while their systems work well most of the time, there can be unexpected or imperfect predictions and occasional bugs. They reassured users that they are committed to making improvements when issues arise.
“While our systems work very well most of the time, you can find predictions that may be unexpected or imperfect, and bugs will occur. Many platforms, including the one we’re posting on now, will show strange or incomplete predictions at various times. For our part, when issues come up, we will make improvements so you can find what you’re looking for, quickly and easily. We appreciate the feedback,” Google concluded.
Earlier this week, Trump claimed that searching for information on the July 13 assassination attempt against him was nearly impossible on Google. However, Google responded by clarifying that their Autocomplete feature was designed to predict queries and save users time, and it was not censoring or banning any particular terms.
“Over the past few days, some people on X have posted claims that search is ‘censoring’ or ‘banning’ particular terms. That’s not happening, and we want to set the record straight. The posts relate to our Autocomplete feature, which predicts queries to save you time,” Google stated.
Google explained that their Autocomplete feature was not showing predictions for queries related to the assassination attempt due to built-in protections against political violence. These systems were outdated and needed improvements.
“Once the issue was flagged, we started working on improvements, and they’re already rolling out,” Google said.
Trump also mentioned that searches for “President Donald” were not showing relevant predictions. Google identified this as a bug affecting searches for several past presidents, including former President Obama. Additionally, searches for “vice president k” were displaying no predictions.
“Secondly, people posted about how Autocomplete wasn’t showing relevant predictions for ‘President Donald’. This particular issue was a bug that spanned the political spectrum, also affecting queries for several past presidents, such as former President Obama, as you can see in the attached image. Typing ‘vice president k’ was also showing no predictions. We’ve made an update that has improved these predictions across the board,” Google elaborated.
Some people also noted that searches for “Donald Trump” were returning news stories related to “Kamala Harris.” Google explained that these labels are generated automatically based on related news topics and can change over time.
“They span the political spectrum as well: For example, a search for ‘Kamala Harris’ showed Top Stories labelled with ‘Donald Trump’, because many articles cover the two of them together. You can see this happening across a range of topics, like the Olympics, other public figures, companies, and more. Our goal is to help people get relevant results for their query,” Google explained.
Google stated that while their systems work well most of the time, there can be unexpected or imperfect predictions and occasional bugs. They reassured users that they are committed to making improvements when issues arise.
“While our systems work very well most of the time, you can find predictions that may be unexpected or imperfect, and bugs will occur. Many platforms, including the one we’re posting on now, will show strange or incomplete predictions at various times. For our part, when issues come up, we will make improvements so you can find what you’re looking for, quickly and easily. We appreciate the feedback,” Google concluded.
