Former President Joe Biden's name was missing from Google's search results, prompting the company to blame a "data error" on Thursday.
On Wednesday, users reported that the former President's tenure was omitted from search queries about “US Presidents,” “United States Presidents,” and “US Presidents in order." The incident comes on the heels of Biden concluding his tenure just this Monday.
Google blames the disappearance of Biden's name as President on a technical error
Users took to social media to prove that every single President's name was included in the search result, save for Joe Biden's. CNBC also reported that on Wednesday, the query did not draw up accurate results for them either. However, the following day, the issue was resolved at around 4 a.m.
The company blamed a glitch in the knowledge graph, which refers to a system that holds related information.
“There was a brief data error in our knowledge graph,” a company spokesperson said in a statement emailed to CNBC on Thursday. “We identified the root cause and resolved it quickly.”
The glitch made it look like former President Obama served his tenure, followed by two consecutive terms of incumbent President Donald Trump. There was no mention of former President Biden having served in between.
As reported by CNBC, Google CEO Sundar Pichai issued a memo during election season in November, asking that they maintain their integrity no matter who wins the polls:
“Whomever the voters entrust, let’s remember the role we play at work, through the products we build and as a business: to be a trusted source of information to people of every background and belief,” Pichai wrote. “We will and must maintain that.”
The debacle comes amid mounting scrutiny against millions of Meta users being forced to follow President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance with no way to undo this. Some users even reported that despite blocking them, they were forced to view their posts.
Per Forbes, users have even reported on the alleged restriction of Democrat-related terms on Instagram and receiving "sensitive content" warnings when they enter political queries or terms. However, the outlet reported that Meta's issues can be blamed on "an error affecting hashtags across the political spectrum."
Notably, Google was one of several tech companies that donated to the Trump administration. CNBC reported that Google donated $1 million to the incumbent President's inauguration fund, allowing Pichai to take to the stage alongside other prolific CEOs at Trump’s inauguration on Monday.

Your perspective matters!
Start the conversation