Google Struggles To Explain Why Autocomplete Omits Trump Assassination Attempt

Google does not autocomplete searches for information about the attempted assassination of former president Donald Trump, leading critics to accuse the search engine of censorship.

When a user begins typing a query into the search box, Google offers suggestions based on frequent searches. But typing in “assassination attempt on trum” leads it to suggest only “assassination attempt on truman,” referring to Harry Truman, who was president from 1945 to 1953.

“Who shot” suggests “who shot john lennon,” “who shot abraham lincoln,” “who shot ronald reagan,” and “who shot george wallace.”

“Who shot tr” completes to “who shot trayvon martin.”

Even “Who shot donald trum” autocompletes to “who shot donald trumn.”

In a statement shared with The Daily Wire, a Google spokesman denied that the company actively interferes with autocomplete results.

“There was no manual action taken on these predictions,” the spokesman said. “Our systems have protections against Autocomplete predictions associated with political violence, which were working as intended prior to this horrific event occurring. We’re working on improvements to ensure our systems are more up to date.”

But the aforementioned shootings and assassination attempts are also examples of political violence. Google will generate stories about the Trump shooting if a user actively searches it.

It has been 15 days since a gunman opened fire at a Trump rally in Butler County, Pennsylvania.

This is not the first time big tech and media companies have been accused of downplaying violence against Republicans. Conservatives took issue with media swiftly moving past the shooting of Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) at a Congressional Baseball Game practice, and frequently failing to mention that the shooter was a Bernie Sanders supporter.

Facebook also inserted an “Altered Photo” warning on posts featuring images of Trump raising a fist after being shot. Facebook later said the notes were added in error.

Questions about Google’s search algorithm come as news outlets have edited content to reflect for favorably on Vice President Kamala Harris, now the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. Axios and other outlets have stripped descriptions of Harris as the Biden administration’s “border czar,” as Republicans criticize Harris for her lackluster performance in that role.

On Monday, Elon Musk shared a post on X claiming Google searches for “Donald Trump” generates stories about Kamala Harris.