+

Cookies on the Business Insider India website

Business Insider India has updated its Privacy and Cookie policy. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the better experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we\'ll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies on the Business Insider India website. However, you can change your cookie setting at any time by clicking on our Cookie Policy at any time. You can also see our Privacy Policy.

Close
HomeQuizzoneWhatsappShare Flash Reads
 

Trump tells followers to 'GO AFTER' Meta and Google, citing censorship allegations shared by Elon Musk

Jul 31, 2024, 00:42 IST
Business Insider
Trump speaking at a North Carolina rally.Brandon Bell/Getty Images
  • Donald Trump accused Meta and Google of "censorship" and urged followers to "go after" the tech giants.
  • Both companies acknowledged fixes were coming for content around the assassination attempt.
Advertisement

Donald Trump is again railing against Big Tech, accusing both Meta and Google of censoring content about him in "another attempt at RIGGING THE ELECTION!!!"

In a post Tuesday on Truth Social, Trump referenced a photo taken after his assassination attempt that a Facebook communications exec previously acknowledged had been mistakenly fact-checked across the social network.

The exec, Dani Lever, confirmed on X that an error occurred.

"This fact check was initially applied to a doctored photo showing the secret service agents smiling," she wrote on X, "and in some cases our systems incorrectly applied that fact check to the real photo."

"This has been fixed," Lever continued, "and we apologize for the mistake."

Advertisement

The New York Post also reported Monday that after asking about the assassination attempt, Meta's AI assistant had responded that the event had never happened.

"We know people have been seeing incomplete, inconsistent, or out of date information on this topic," Lever told BI. "We're implementing a fix to provide more up-to-date responses for inquiries, and it is possible people may continue to see inaccurate responses in the meantime."

Still, Trump urged his followers on Truth Social Tuesday to "GO AFTER META AND GOOGLE. LET THEM KNOW WE ARE ALL WISE TO THEM, WILL BE MUCH TOUGHER THIS TIME."

Trump's call to action echoes his previous threats against Big Tech, and specifically Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg.

Zuckerberg had called Trump a "badass" for surviving his assassination attempt, but that didn't stop Trump from threatening to send the Facebook cofounder to prison if he's elected.

Advertisement

"They have no shame! All I can say is that if I'm elected President, we will pursue Election Fraudsters at levels never seen before, and they will be sent to prison for long periods of time," Trump wrote earlier this month.

Elon Musk calls out Google for its treatment of Trump searches

On Monday, Elon Musk — who posted a full-throated endorsement of Trump and previously floated the idea of "election interference" by Big Tech — added fuel for Trump's allegations of censorship targeted at Google.

Musk reposted several users on X who said Google searches for "Donald Trump" had returned a prominent section labeled "News about Harris • Donald Trump."

Musk and other Trump allies — including Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr., as well as Senator Ted Cruz — have also criticized Google over allegations that a search for "assassination attempt on" did not suggest Trump's name as an autocomplete option, Fortune reports.

Google told the outlet that autocomplete has protections against "predictions associated with political violence, which were working as intended prior to this horrific event occurring."

Advertisement

The search giant added it was "working on improvements to ensure our systems are more up-to-date."

Google did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

You are subscribed to notifications!
Looks like you've blocked notifications!
Next Article