Google is facing allegations of trying to influence the 2024 election after it was discovered that the search engine’s Autocomplete feature was not showing results for the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump. Users noticed that when they tried to search for information about the assassination attempt against Trump, Autocomplete did not provide suggestions. This anomaly was brought to light by social media users, including Texas congressman and Donald Trump Jr., who shared screenshots showing that Google was not offering search suggestions related to the deadly Pennsylvania rally shooting.
The issue with Google’s Autocomplete was further highlighted when searches for other US presidents who were killed or faced assassination attempts yielded a list of relevant search suggestions, but the same was not true for searches related to Trump. Even when specific keywords like “Trump assassination attempt” were used, Google did not provide any additional search terms. Despite this, Google’s search results still included news articles about the July 13 shooting, showing that the search engine was not censoring the information entirely.
A Google spokesperson clarified that there was no manual action taken to omit search suggestions related to Trump’s assassination attempt and that their systems include protections against Autocomplete predictions that are associated with political violence. The spokesperson also mentioned that Google is working on improvements to ensure their systems are more up to date. While Autocomplete is intended to save time for users, the spokesperson assured that people can still search for anything they want. However, the issue caught the attention of many users who were able to recreate the phenomenon, leading to claims of intentional election interference by Google.
The controversy surrounding Google’s Autocomplete feature not showing search suggestions for the assassination attempt of Donald Trump gained significant attention, with Texas GOP Rep. Chip Roy verifying the issue through his own attempted search results. Donald Trump Jr. also accused Google of intentional election interference in favor of Vice President Kamala Harris by not providing search suggestions related to Trump’s assassination attempt. The Post also noted that searches for “Biden assassination attempt” also did not yield any Autocomplete suggestions, highlighting the potential bias in Google’s search results against political figures.
In a separate incident, Sai Varshith Kandula, an alleged neo-Nazi, attempted to ram a rented U-Haul truck into White House security barriers in May 2023. Despite not being widely considered an assassination attempt, Kandula’s goal was reported as wanting to “Kill the president If that’s what I have to do.” This incident further underscores the importance of having accurate and unbiased search results from platforms like Google, especially when it comes to high-profile individuals like political figures. With concerns over potential election interference and bias, users are looking to platforms like Google to ensure transparency and neutrality in their search results.
