Elon Musk accuses Google of Donald Trump ‘search ban’
Elon Musk has claimed that Google imposed a “search ban” on Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, posting an image of a Google search box with “President Donald” typed.
Musk, who endorsed Trump and pledged to financially support his campaign, previously shared an AI-generated parody video on X that mimicked Harris’ voice.
Google responded to Musk’s claim and said autocomplete is designed to offer shortcuts for common search terms.
It also said users can still search for specific queries, even if they are not suggested by autocomplete.
The autocomplete feature suggested “Donald Duck” and “President Donald Regan” on Sunday but failed to suggest “President Donald Trump.”
Google responded to CBS MoneyWatch and attributed the issue to “anomalies” affecting autocomplete functionality for searches related to several former presidents and the current vice president.
For example, a search for “Vice President K” returned results such as “William R. King,” a US vice president in 1853.
Observers say the glitches highlight growing concerns about the influence of tech platforms on the 2024 presidential election in the US.