In anticipation of the upcoming US presidential election, Google is removing certain autocomplete search suggestions.
Normally, Google’s autocomplete feature predicts what someone is searching for based on what they have already typed. The phrases “Trump Is…” and “Biden Is…” are completed differently based on factors like popularity and what other people have already searched using these phrases.
Google has announced that it will remove suggestions that could be seen as endorsing or opposing political parties and candidates. It will also remove autocomplete for information related to participation in the election, such as voting methods.
“We want to be very careful about the type of information that we highlight in the search feature given its prominence. Given the concern around elections and elections information, we want to be particularly conservative here,” said David Graff, Google’s senior director of global policy and standards.
Additional Resources
Trump Is…? Biden Is…? Google removes autocomplete for candidates and voting, CNN Business (September 11, 2020)
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