Trump Threatens Action Against Meta and Google, Citing Censorship Allegations

Will Donald Trump take action against Meta and Google if elected? Republican candidate threatens to be 'much tougher'. Details here

Republican candidate Donald Trump reacted strongly and slammed Meta and Google after some X users shared reports that their Facebook accounts labeled the image of Trump pumping his fist in the air after the July 13 assassination attempt as "altered."After Facebook censored his assassination image calling it an "altered photo," former US President Donald Trump has slammed Meta and Google and accused them of making "another attempt at RIGGING THE ELECTION!!!" He took to the social media platform Truth Social and wrote, "Facebook has just admitted that it wrongly censored the Trump "attempted assassination photo," and got caught. Same thing for Google. They made it virtually impossible to find pictures or anything about this heinous act." Trump said further, "Both are facing BIG BACKLASH OVER CENSORSHIP CLAIMS. Here we go again, another attempt at RIGGING THE ELECTION!!! GO AFTER META AND GOOGLE. LET THEM KNOW WE ARE ALL WISE TO THEM, WILL BE MUCH TOUGHER THIS TIME. MAGA2024!" The Republican candidate reacted strongly after some X users shared reports that their Facebook accounts labeled the image of Trump pumping his fist in the air after the July 13 assassination attempt as "altered." Also Read : United States etches new record of 3,000 medal wins at Olympics, all you need to know Joel Kaplan, VP Global Policy apologized on Tuesday and said these types of responses are referred to as hallucinations. He said further that it is an industry-wide issue that can be seen across all generative AI systems. He added that it is an ongoing challenge for how AI handles real-time events going forward. He also said that these issues are being addressed. Also Read : Deadpool & Wolverine : Ryan Reynolds shares a hilarious blooper with Dogpool Earlier on Monday, Meta Public Affairs Director Dani Lever wrote in a post on social media platform X it was an error as the systems were meant to detect a separate version of the image. Elaborating on it, he also said that the fact check was initially applied to a doctored photo showing the Secret Service agents smiling, and in some cases, our systems incorrectly applied that fact check to the real photo. Tendering an apology, Lever said that it had been fixed. What has Donald Trump said about Meta and Google? Republican candidate Donald Trump has accused Meta and Google of trying the US Presidential Election 2024 and urged his supporters to go after them. Why is Donald Trump angry at Meta? Former US President Donald Trump is angry at Meta because Facebook censored the photo of an assassination attempt on him calling it an "altered photo."

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

Both companies acknowledged fixes were coming for content around the assassination attempt. 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." 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. "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. 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." 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.

Trump urges supporters to 'go after' Meta, Google over alleged...

Former President Trump slammed Meta and Google on Tuesday for allegedly censoring searches related to the failed attempt on his life, urging his supporters to "go after" the two Big Tech companies. The Republican presidential candidate took issue with a string of bizarre incidents that included Meta's AI software calling the assassination attempt "fictional," Meta-owned Facebook banning the iconic photo of Trump raising his fist after the shooting, and Google's search bar not bringing up any results about the tragic incident in its dropdown window. Both companies denied there was any bias, instead claiming they were innocent mistakes after being contacted by The Post. Trump would have none of that in a cap-filled post on his own social media platform, Truth Social, which he launched after being banned by Facebook and Twitter following the Jan. 6 riots at the Capitol. "Facebook has just admitted that it wrongly censored the Trump 'attempted assassination photo,' and got caught. Same thing for Google," Trump wrote. "They made it virtually impossible to find pictures or anything about this heinous act. Both are facing BIG BACKLASH OVER CENSORSHIP CLAIMS." He continued, "Here we go again, another attempt at RIGGING THE ELECTION!!! GO AFTER META AND GOOGLE. LET THEM KNOW WE ARE ALL WISE TO THEM, WILL BE MUCH TOUGHER THIS TIME. MAGA2024!" The outburst comes after users on X shared reports that their Facebook accounts labeled the image of Trump pumping his fist in the air after the July 13 assassination attempt as "altered." It was accompanied by the message "Independent fact-checkers reviewed a similar photo and said it was altered in a way that could mislead people." A company spokesperson admitted that incorrect fact checks were being applied to the photo. The Facebook incident was followed by even greater fury over Meta's AI software spitting out no information or false results about the assassination attempt -- yet providing answers to queries about presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris A Meta rep again apologized for the controversy over its AI tool. "We know people have been seeing incomplete, inconsistent, or out of date information on this topic," a Meta rep said in a statement on the controversy. "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." On Monday, Google users expressed shock to find the website's autocomplete feature omitted references to the July 13 assassination attempt. Instead, the search engine recommended other search results, such as the failed assassination of former President Reagan. The keywords "Trump assassination attempt" also did not offer any additional results. A Google spokesperson told The Post that there was no "manual action taken on these predictions," and that its systems include "protections" against Autocomplete predictions "associated with political violence." "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," the spokesperson added.

Trump urges supporters to 'go after' Meta, Google over censorship stoush

Former President Trump slammed Meta and Google on Tuesday for allegedly censoring searches related to the failed attempt on his life, urging his supporters to "go after" the two Big Tech companies. The Republican presidential candidate took issue with a string of bizarre incidents that included Meta's AI software calling the assassination attempt "fictional," Meta-owned Facebook banning the iconic photo of Trump raising his fist after the shooting, and Google's search bar not bringing up any results about the tragic incident in its dropdown window. Both companies denied there was any bias, instead claiming they were innocent mistakes after being contacted by The Post. Trump would have none of that in a cap-filled post on his own social media platform, Truth Social, which he launched after being banned by Facebook and Twitter following the Jan. 6 riots at the Capitol. "Facebook has just admitted that it wrongly censored the Trump 'attempted assassination photo,' and got caught. Same thing for Google," Trump wrote. "They made it virtually impossible to find pictures or anything about this heinous act. Both are facing BIG BACKLASH OVER CENSORSHIP CLAIMS." He continued, "Here we go again, another attempt at RIGGING THE ELECTION!!! GO AFTER META AND GOOGLE. LET THEM KNOW WE ARE ALL WISE TO THEM, WILL BE MUCH TOUGHER THIS TIME. MAGA2024!" The outburst comes after users on X shared reports that their Facebook accounts labeled the image of Trump pumping his fist in the air after the July 13 assassination attempt as "altered." It was accompanied by the message: "Independent fact-checkers reviewed a similar photo and said it was altered in a way that could mislead people." A company spokesperson admitted that incorrect fact checks were being applied to the photo. The Facebook incident was followed by even greater fury over Meta's AI software spitting out no information or false results about the assassination attempt -- yet providing answers to queries about presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris A Meta rep again apologized for the controversy over its AI tool. "We know people have been seeing incomplete, inconsistent, or out of date information on this topic," a Meta rep said in a statement on the controversy. "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." On Monday, Google users expressed shock to find the website's autocomplete feature omitted references to the July 13 assassination attempt. Instead, the search engine recommended other search results, such as the failed assassination of former President Reagan. The keywords "Trump assassination attempt" also did not offer any additional results. A Google spokesperson told The Post that there was no "manual action taken on these predictions," and that its systems include "protections" against Autocomplete predictions "associated with political violence." "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," the spokesperson added.

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

This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? Log in. "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." 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. "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. 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." 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.