• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia
TechFortune 500

Donald Trump Suggests Google Is Trying to Ruin His Candidacy

By
Don Reisinger
Don Reisinger
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Don Reisinger
Don Reisinger
Down Arrow Button Icon
September 29, 2016, 11:04 AM ET

Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump believes Google is trying to hurt his candidacy.

Speaking at a rally in Wisconsin on Wednesday night, Trump argued that a “Google poll” showed his campaign leading by two points over Democratic Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. He gloated that the lead comes despite the online giant hiding bad news related to Clinton.

“A new post-debate poll, the Google poll, has us leading Hillary Clinton by two points nationwide,” he said during the rally, “and that’s despite the fact that Google search engine was suppressing the bad news about Hillary Clinton. How about that.”

Trump’s comments were earlier reported on by The Washington Post.

Trump’s Google (GOOGL) claim refers to a theory floated back in June that the search giant was intentionally bringing Internet users to results that criticized Trump. More specifically, a site called SourceFed published a video that went viral showing how Google’s auto-complete function, which helps users get to search results more quickly, reacted when “cri” was input after a candidate’s name.

In the case of Clinton, when users typed “hillary clinton cri,” it wouldn’t automatically show an option to click “Hillary Clinton criminal” in the auto-complete. However, when users searched for Trump-related items, the auto-correct would offer some negative results, including “donald trump crimes,” reports said at the time.

Other reports soon surfaced, saying that Google was manipulating users through its search engine to play a role in swaying the electorate.

Google denied those accusations, saying that it was in no way modifying its auto-complete or search results to help Clinton and hurt Trump. Google event went so far as to issue a blog post on the topic, explaining how the auto-complete function works.

Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s technology newsletter

“The autocomplete algorithm is designed to avoid completing a search for a person’s name with terms that are offensive or disparaging,” wrote Tamar Yehoshua, Google Search’s vice president of product management, in the post. “We made this change a while ago following feedback that Autocomplete too often predicted offensive, hurtful or inappropriate queries about people. This filter operates according to the same rules no matter who the person is.”

Trump, though, is still peddling the idea that Google is working against him to benefit Clinton. And while he didn’t mention the “criminal” complaint by name, it’s one that doesn’t necessarily hold up.

For more about Donald Trump, watch:

In Fortune‘s own evaluation of Google’s auto-correct on Thursday, the exact opposite of what reportedly happened in June is happening now. When Fortune input “hillary clinton cri” into Google’s search box, it returned auto-correct options that refer to “hillary clinton criminal memes” and “hillary clinton criminal investigation google.” When Fortune typed in “donald trump cri,” however, there wasn’t no mention of Donald Trump and criminality.

As The Washington Post notes, Trump’s mention of “the Google poll” is also lost in translation. The Post believes Trump was actually referring to a Google Consumer Survey conducted after Monday night’s debate by the Independent Journal Review. The poll, in other words, was conducted using Google Consumer Surveys but was not Google’s own poll.

Google declined Fortune‘s request for comment on Trump’s statement. Neither campaign immediately responded to a request for comment.

About the Author
By Don Reisinger
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Tech

Jack Dorsey and Roelof Botha think AI can make middle management obsolete 
AIBlock
Jack Dorsey and Roelof Botha think AI can make middle management obsolete 
By Jacqueline MunisApril 2, 2026
43 minutes ago
china
AIChina
Meet China’s AI-powered recycling robot that sorts 220 pounds of clothes in 2 to 3 minutes
By Tian MacLeod Ji and The Associated PressApril 2, 2026
56 minutes ago
In the age of vibe coding, trust is the real bottleneck
AIEye on AI
In the age of vibe coding, trust is the real bottleneck
By Sharon GoldmanApril 2, 2026
2 hours ago
A photo illustration of two laptops with eyeballs over a red background with alert signs.
CryptoNorth Korea
I knew about North Korean hackers—they still tricked me and got into my computer
By Ben WeissApril 2, 2026
2 hours ago
musk
EconomyIPOs
Elon Musk, world’s first trillionaire: one implication of the massive SpaceX IPO
By Bernard Condon, Ken Sweet and The Associated PressApril 2, 2026
2 hours ago
farley
Future of WorkInfrastructure
Ford CEO Jim Farley says America is sleepwalking past its ‘essential economy’ crisis. Goldman Sachs just showed how big it really is
By Nick LichtenbergApril 2, 2026
6 hours ago

Most Popular

Gen Z fled San Francisco for Texas and Florida. Now they’re turning ‘welcomer cities’ into the next big tech towns
Real Estate
Gen Z fled San Francisco for Texas and Florida. Now they’re turning ‘welcomer cities’ into the next big tech towns
By Fortune EditorsApril 2, 2026
10 hours ago
Current price of gold as of April 1, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of gold as of April 1, 2026
By Fortune EditorsApril 1, 2026
1 day ago
Two-thirds of parents say their adult Gen Z kids still rely on them financially  for support—even though it's putting them under strain
Success
Two-thirds of parents say their adult Gen Z kids still rely on them financially  for support—even though it's putting them under strain
By Fortune EditorsMarch 31, 2026
2 days ago
Current price of oil as of April 1, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of April 1, 2026
By Fortune EditorsApril 1, 2026
1 day ago
Jerome Powell says the $39 trillion national debt is ‘not unsustainable,’ but warns the trajectory ‘will not end well’
Economy
Jerome Powell says the $39 trillion national debt is ‘not unsustainable,’ but warns the trajectory ‘will not end well’
By Fortune EditorsMarch 30, 2026
3 days ago
Deutsche Bank asked AI if it’s true that AI will solve the economy’s inflation problems. The robots answered
Economy
Deutsche Bank asked AI if it’s true that AI will solve the economy’s inflation problems. The robots answered
By Fortune EditorsApril 1, 2026
22 hours ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.