With fewer than 100 days until the 2024 election, social media users are claiming that a lack of Google autocomplete results about former President Donald Trump and his attempted assassination is evidence of election interference.
With fewer than 100 days until the 2024 election, social media users are claiming that a lack of Google autocomplete results about former President Donald Trump and his attempted assassination is evidence of election interference. Many posts include screenshots showing what the autocomplete feature, which predicts what users are trying to type, has generated for text such as attempted assassination of tr or president donald. Click here to connect with us on WhatsApp Among the pictured results for the former phrase are references to other assassination attempts, including that of Harry Truman and Gerald Ford, but nothing for Trump. The latter provides two options president donald duck and president donald regan.
Multiple high-profile figures, including Trump and sitting members of Congress, promoted the claim across social media platforms, collectively amassing more than 1 million likes and shares by Tuesday. Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Google attributed the situation to existing protections against autocomplete predictions associated with political violence, noting that no manual action was taken to suppress information about Trump.
Search engine experts said there are many reasons that could explain why some autocomplete results concerning the former president were not appearing.
Here’s a closer look at the facts.
CLAIM: Google is engaging in election interference by censoring autocomplete results about former President Donald Trump, including the assassination attempt at his Pennsylvania rally on July 13.
THE FACTS: It is true that Google’s autocomplete feature as of Monday was not finishing certain phrases related to Trump and the assassination attempt as shown in screenshots spreading online, but there is no evidence it was related to election interference.
By Tuesday, some of the same terms were providing relevant autocomplete results. The text president donald now also suggests Donald Trump as a search option. Similarly, the phrase attempted assassination of includes Trump’s name in autocomplete predictions.
