Google’s Autocomplete function faces criticism from conservatives for allegedly omitting results related to an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, sparking accusations of election interference.
Conservative voices have long accused Google of election meddling, with claims dating back to 2008. Recent frustrations were fueled by the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story in 2020. The latest controversy arose when Google’s Autocomplete failed to suggest results for “the assassination attempt of Donald Trump,” despite an incident occurring just two weeks ago.
Republican Senator Roger Marshall from Kansas has announced a congressional inquiry into Google’s practices. “Why is @Google suppressing the search about the Trump assassination attempt?” Marshall questioned on social media, highlighting the discrepancy with screenshots.
Donald Trump Jr. also weighed in, posting a strong statement on X (formerly Twitter): “Big Tech is trying to interfere in the election AGAIN to help Kamala Harris. This is intentional election interference from Google. Truly despicable.”
Similarly, Texas Congressman Chip Roy shared his experience, captioned “Can verify,” echoing Trump Jr.’s sentiments about election interference.
Google responded to these accusations, stating that no “manual action” had been taken to influence the Autocomplete suggestions, and emphasizing that protections are in place against politically violent suggestions.
Marshall, who sits on the Senate Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, is demanding answers. “I’ll be making an official inquiry into @google this week – I look forward to their response,” he declared.
The controversy was further inflamed by a March study from the Media Research Center (MRC), which cited 16 incidents of alleged Google election interference. The report also criticized Google’s AI tool, Gemini, for purportedly not responding to negative queries about President Joe Biden.
MRC researchers Dan Schneider and Gabriela Pariseau claimed, “Google uses its ‘great strength and resources and reach’ to advance its leftist values,” based on findings by AllSides researcher Dr. Robert Epstein. Epstein alleged that Google’s actions shifted the 2020 election results by at least 6 million votes in favor of Democrats, and influenced the 2016 election by likely shifting 2.6 million votes to Hillary Clinton.
Google has firmly denied these allegations, describing the MRC report as a “recycled list of baseless, inaccurate complaints” debunked by third parties and court rulings. The tech giant asserted, “We have no desire to make our products biased or inaccurate and have safeguards in place to ensure this.”
Google also highlighted that both sides of the political spectrum have made similar claims over the years, and many conservatives have successfully used Google’s platforms to disseminate their messages widely.
The ongoing debate underscores the complex intersection of technology, politics, and information dissemination, with Google at the center of the controversy.
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