Google has blamed a “data error” for the temporary omission of former President Joe Biden from search results for U.S. presidents.
CNBC reports that Google users were surprised on Wednesday when they noticed that former President Joe Biden was missing from the company’s search results for “U.S. presidents,” “United States Presidents,” and “US Presidents in order.” The search results displayed a list of presidents ranging from George Washington to President Donald Trump, but did not include Biden, who had recently concluded his four-year presidential term on Monday.
CNBC attempted to search for U.S. presidents on Wednesday night and confirmed that Biden was indeed omitted from the results. However, the company quickly addressed the issue and restored Biden to its search results on Thursday.
In an emailed statement to CNBC, a Google spokesperson explained, “There was a brief data error in our knowledge graph. We identified the root cause and resolved it quickly.” A knowledge graph is a broad term used to describe a system that holds connected information.
This mistake comes at a time when Google CEO Sundar Pichai had recently sent a memo to employees on Election Day in November, urging them to remember the company’s role in providing “high-quality and reliable information” to users, regardless of their background or beliefs.
The Biden omission error is just one of several product mishaps that Google has faced during a turbulent period, which has also included global scrutiny. In December, Pichai acknowledged the challenges, stating, “It’s not lost on me that we are facing scrutiny across the world. It comes with our size and success. It’s part of a broader trend where tech is now impacting society at scale.”
Earlier in the year, Google launched an AI-generated image tool that faced criticism for ultra-woke historical inaccuracies discovered by users. The company pulled the feature for months before relaunching it, and Pichai admitted that they had “offended our users and shown bias.” Google also encountered problems with its AI summaries product, AI Overview, which users quickly found issues with upon its launch.
Despite allegations from former President Trump that Google intentionally buried search results related to him, Pichai has been among the tech CEOs getting closer to the former president. Google even donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund, joining other tech companies in their efforts to build a relationship with the new administration. Pichai had a prominent standing position on stage alongside other tech CEOs at Trump’s inauguration on Monday.
Read more at CNBC here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
