Misinformation Watch: Did Google Omit Trump Assassination Attempt Searches 'By Design'?

Recently, Google issued a letter in response to requests by Republican members of Congress for information regarding issues with its Autocomplete search function failing to provide suggestions related to the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. 

Coverage predominantly came from sources on the right, but the information was represented differently by various right-biased outlets.

How Different Sources Covered It: 

The letter from Google’s Vice President of Government Affairs and Public Policy, Mark Isakowitz, included several quotes about how Google search systems are “designed,” but media on the right highlighted one in particular:

“Our systems are designed to prohibit Autocomplete predictions for hypothetical political violence against current figures (as opposed to against historical figures such as President Truman, whom you asked about). As discussed, these protections are not event-specific but rather applied to categories of possible searches.”

Headlines from Fox Business (Lean Right bias) and National Review (Lean Right bias) claimed that Google “admitted” the Trump assassination search “omissions” were by design. Those who only read these headlines might be led to believe that Google knowingly or intentionally designed a system that’s biased against Trump, and that Google confirmed it’s been “censoring” conservative inquiries in particular.

However, most sources on the right, including Daily Mail (Right bias), The New York Post (Lean Right bias), and Washington Times (Lean Right bias) painted the picture differently. These sources indicate that Google said the issue was due to an outdated Autocomplete safety feature that prohibits predictions for ‘hypothetical political violence.’ This framing does not insinuate that Google ‘admitted’ to intentionally targeting Trump or conservatives, rather, Google attributed the issue to a safety feature that could’ve impacted any users across the political spectrum. 

Similarly, these sources published headlines that contextualized the information, and presented claims of ‘censorship’ as yet to be confirmed. Daily Mail put censorship in quotations, New York Post said the censorship is ‘alleged,’ and Washington Times referred to it as ‘potential.’ These three headlines do not mention Google’s responses, requiring readers to read the full story to learn more.

So, did Google reveal that it intentionally censored Trump and conservatives? Or are these headlines misleading? Here’s what to know: 

The Context

On July 28th, reports circulated that Google’s Autocomplete function was omitting queries related to the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, prompting Republican representatives to take quick action. Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) led the efforts, requesting a full investigation and sending a letter to Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai “demanding answers for his company’s suppression of search terms related to the assassination attempt against President Trump.” Judiciary Committee Jim Jordan (R- OH) also requested information from Pichai. 

Since then, the Republican-led House Oversight and Judicial Committees launched investigations to determine whether Google and Meta omitted the information about the attempted assassination, and to determine whether these actions amounted to “election interference.”

Google Executives Respond

The Fox Business piece includes Mark Isakowitz’s full 4-page letter to Sen. Marshall. Isakowitz says a safety feature, which prohibits predictions for “hypothetical political violence against current figures” is to blame for Autocomplete’s failure to provide predictions for queries related to the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.

The Google executive says it was these “out-of-date systems that led to an inadequate user experience.” He also addressed concerns that Autocomplete was not showing relevant predictions for “President Donald” saying, “This particular issue stemmed from a bug that spanned the political spectrum – also affecting queries for several other past presidents from both political parties,” including Barack Obama and Kamala Harris. The letter attaches a screenshot of Autocomplete failing to provide predictions for Obama when searching “president ba.”

AllSides Analysis: Are the Fox Business and National Review Headlines Accurate?

It is an undisputed fact that, for some reason, Google’s Autocomplete function was not showing predictions about the attempted assassination of former President Trump. However, in contrast to what these headlines suggest, there is yet to be evidence that Google intentionally suppressed information related to the assassination attempt specifically.

The misleading headlines may stem from Sen. Marshall’s commentary on Google’s response, which was quoted late in the Fox Business article but not in National Review’s:

“Google is now openly admitting that they were blocking and eliminating search prompts regarding the assassination attempt on President Trump,” Senator Marshall said. “Most shocking is their bizarre written defense that Trump’s assassination attempt was a ‘hypothetical act of political violence’ even up to the point of our public inquiry on July 28th.”

But the letter is not sufficient evidence to lead to this conclusion. All five articles we analyzed correctly note that Google indicated the issue was due to a safety feature that blocks predictions for “hypothetical political violence against current figures.” However, users discovered the issue with Google’s Autocomplete weeks after the event, after it was clear that the “political violence” against Trump was not “hypothetical.” Some have echoed Marshall’s claim, suggesting that Google’s classification of the attempt as “hypothetical” is evidence of targeted censorship.

In the letter, Google explained that it would have “been inappropriate for our systems to offer any predictions” related to the assassination attempt prior to July 13th — however, Google’s Autocomplete still classified the attempted assassination as hypothetical weeks after. While Isakowitz indicated that a separate “bug” failed to autocomplete presidents from the left in searches as well, it is yet to be determined whether bias played a role in Autocomplete’s failure to provide predictions related to the attempt on Trump’s life.

Headlines from National Review and Fox Business are misleading and sensational. Reading beyond reveals that the truth is more nuanced. Google’s response is not an admission of targeted suppression, but it reveals avenues to investigate to determine whether Google is knowingly favoring one side or the other. 

Olivia Geno is a News & Bias Assistant at AllSides. She has a Lean Right bias.

This article was edited and reviewed by Andy Gorel, News Editor and Bias Analyst (Center bias), and Evan Wagner, News Editor and Bias Analyst (Lean Left bias).