Elon Musk criticizes Google for not including Trump assassination search results
Elon Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur, has raised concerns about Google potentially censoring search results related to the assassination attempt against former President Trump. Musk took to social media to highlight that Google Search’s autocomplete feature seemed to omit results regarding the July 13 shooting. However, Google has denied taking any deliberate action to limit the search results.
In a post on social media, Musk questioned Google’s motives, stating, “Wow, Google has a search ban on President Donald Trump. Election interference?” He followed up with another post expressing his worry that Google could be getting involved in election interference if they manipulate search results.
A spokesperson from Google responded to these allegations, stating that no “manual action” had been taken to alter the search predictions. The spokesperson explained that Google’s systems have protections in place to prevent autocomplete predictions related to political violence, and they are continuously working on improvements to ensure their systems remain up to date.
Screenshots of Google search results showed recommendations for similar historical events like the failed assassination of former President Reagan, the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand (which sparked World War I), the shooting of Bob Marley, and the failed attempt on former President Ford. Even searching for specific keywords like “Trump assassination attempt” reportedly yielded no additional results from Google.
These developments have sparked criticism from various individuals, including Donald Trump Jr., who accused Big Tech of attempting to interfere in the election to support Kamala Harris. The allegations of intentional election interference by Google have been met with strong condemnation.
Google has defended its autocomplete feature as simply a tool to help users save time and find information quickly. The company assured that despite any limitations in autocomplete suggestions, users are still able to search for any topic they desire. Google emphasized its commitment to providing users with useful and high-quality search results, especially during times of significant events like the recent assassination attempt.
