Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by Leon Neal
In a recent controversy that has ignited social media, Donald Trump Jr. has accused Google of election interference, claiming the tech giant is intentionally suppressing information about an assassination attempt on his father, former President Donald Trump. The uproar began when users noticed that Google’s Autocomplete feature was not suggesting search results related to the incident, leading to allegations of bias and censorship.
According to the New York Post, the shooting incident in question took place at a rally in Pennsylvania on July 13, where an attempt was made on Trump’s life. However, when users typed “the assassination attempt of” into Google’s search bar, no suggestions related to the ex-president appeared, despite similar searches for other historical assassination attempts yielding numerous results.
Donald Trump Jr. expressed his frustration on social media, stating, “Big Tech is trying to interfere in the election AGAIN to help Kamala Harris. We all know this is intentional election interference from Google. Truly despicable.” Many netizens quickly agreed with him. One user tweeted, “Google has been doing this for years,” while another commented, “This is how they have played for years. X needs to make an unbiased search engine.” Another user added, “Big Tech is the enemy of the people,” and yet another echoed, “Election interference!!”
As per Daily Mail, The controversy has caught the attention of political circles. Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas announced plans to launch a Senate investigation into Google’s actions. He stated, “Why is Google suppressing the search about the Trump assassination attempt? These are all screenshots from this morning. Has there been a dramatic increase in Truman biographers in the last two weeks? I look forward to hearing their response.”
In response to the allegations, Google has denied any intentional bias or interference. A spokesperson for the company stated, “We’re working on improvements to ensure our systems are more up-to-date. Of course, Autocomplete is just a tool to help people save time, and they can still search for anything they want to. Following this terrible act, people turned to Google to find high-quality information– we connected them with helpful results and will continue to do so.”
Despite Google’s assurances, the incident has reignited a longstanding debate about the role of Big Tech in shaping public discourse and influencing elections. Past controversies, such as the reported suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story in 2020 and allegations of biased search algorithms during previous elections, are often cited as evidence of this perceived partiality.
The Media Research Center’s recent study highlighted, “MRC researchers have found 41 times where Google interfered in elections over the last 16 years. From the mouths of Google executives, the tech giant let slip what was never meant to be made public: That Google uses its ‘great strength and resources and reach’ to advance its leftist values.” The accusations against Google continue to fuel discussions on the influence and accountability of major tech companies in the political landscape.
