Google is blocking AI searches for Trump and dementia

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Submitted ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨QuantumSpecter@lemmy.world⁩ to ⁨technology@lemmy.world⁩

https://www.theverge.com/news/789152/google-ai-searches-blocking-trump-dementia-biden

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ikidd@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
This is probably payback for letting them off the hook on the monopoly suits. Expect more “payback” as they manipulate the narrative.

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DERRALEXANO@sh.itjust.works ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Same for searching: “did Elon Musk make a nazi salute?” Only got a response when I replaced “nazi salute” with “offensive gesture”. Ok google

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- pyre@lemmy.world ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  fuck me. i don’t know why people still use google search; it was shit even before all this. jumped ship years ago.
  
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  - viking@infosec.pub ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    What are you using now? I’ve been toying with kagi for a while, but the idea of having to use an account that ties all my searches to me doesn’t sit well with my sense of privacy, and none of the others get results remotely close to google.
    
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shittydwarf@piefed.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
Trump has dementia confirmed

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MourningDove@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
Aaaand this is how we know he has dementia.

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- NoodlePoint@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  Like Duterte, he is but a puppet for a bunch of murderous cunts who keep him propped up if only to have him sign their policies favoring them for profit.
  
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  - SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    Like a number of Roman emperors or European kings
    
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- kokesh@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  And shits his pants. Beside being a cunt all his life.
  
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LoafedBurrito@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Many are saying it’s the worst dementia they have seen. The best people in fact.

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- Wizard_Pope@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  The most tremendous dementia they have seen. The greatest people have looked at me and said it’s the biggest, greatest case they have seen. The biggest of all time.
  
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- victorz@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  This is so succinctly Trump. 😂 Bravo! Really captures the essence in one and a half sentences.
  
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SwingingTheLamp@midwest.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
Forget the spokesperson, just ask Google AI directly:

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AI on Google Search, including the AI Overviews in search, does not provide summaries on topics involving Donald Trump and dementia. This is due to risk aversion, sensitivity to political topics, and recent legal challenges. Instead, these searches return a list of traditional web links.

Reasons for the lack of response

Risk of misinformation: AI-generated conclusions about a public figure’s health could spread misinformation. The mental acuity of Donald Trump and President Joe Biden, the oldest presidents in U.S. history, is a topic of public discussion.

Avoiding political sensitivity: AI models often have restrictions on sensitive or controversial topics to avoid biased responses. Google and other tech companies are cautious about how their AI products respond to election-related or partisan queries.

Legal history with Trump: Google’s handling of Trump-related content may be influenced by recent legal and political issues. In 2025, Google paid a $24.5 million settlement in a lawsuit related to the suspension of Trump’s YouTube account.

Inconsistent application of AI summaries: Some users report that searches about other politicians, like Barack Obama or Joe Biden, may return an AI-generated response, though this varies. This inconsistency has led to criticism that the AI applies selective censorship.

Google’s statement A Google spokesperson stated that AI Overview and AI Mode do not always show answers to all queries, especially sensitive or complex ones. The company suggests that users rely on traditional search results in such cases.
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- Dojan@pawb.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  Okay, but why? LLMs always give a response, they’re trained to give a response regardless of accuracy. This entire wall of text could be completely made up.
  
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  - SwingingTheLamp@midwest.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    So, essentially the same as a company spokesperson!
    
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- phoenixz@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  Yeah, we consistently give the wrong answer on any divisive and sensitive topic, but THIS particular issue we will skip because we wouldn’t want somebody to feel like we don’t have our tongue solidly lodged up their ass
  
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  - Jason2357@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    Yeah, it’s insanely inept. They could have restricted the AI from answering “any question about a public figure and dementia” or even “the health information about a politician” or whatever if they were genuinely concerned. But they blocked only specifically Trump and dementia? It’s almost intentionally obvious.
    
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- reddig33@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  Now ask it about Biden and dementia and see if it does the same thing. 🤔
  
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  - shalafi@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    I did both yesterday. Biden returns no result at all.
    
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- CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  
  Instead, these searches return a list of traditional web links.
  
  “Oh…oh okay. So you know what that is. Why are unable to provide traditional web links for ALL my searches? Because, I’m gonna be honest with you Google. I never asked for you to ‘summarize’ my web results and the fact that you can turn it off at your discretion tells me that you could turn it off for everyone.”
  
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  - Goodlucksil@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    You don’t have to use Google, you know…
    
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- kn0wmad1c@programming.dev ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  Ok, but it has no problem answering about Biden’s dementia
  
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leastaction@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
Duckduckgo, on the other hand … Image

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Cyberflunk@lemmy.world ⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

Kagi,brave, startpage, ddg, are good to go. Trump def has dementia

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derpgon@programming.dev ⁨13⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Image

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- vpklotar@lemmy.world ⁨12⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  I’ve been a Kagi user for over a year and I usually hate AI summaries. Though I must say I love how Kagi has implemented them as it gives sources where it found the info so you can dig deeper and see if what it said was actually correct.
  
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DarkAri@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

I use mojeek, and startpage sometimes. Ddg is too influenced now, they do the same stuff Google does. Brave is run by people who hate LGBT people so I can’t support them in good conscience.

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Cyberflunk@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

The post is likely referring to a long-standing controversy around Brendan Eich, the founder and CEO of Brave (the browser and search engine company). In 2008, Eich donated $1,000 to support California's Proposition 8, a ballot measure that banned same-sex marriage (later overturned by courts). This came to light in 2014 when he was briefly appointed CEO of Mozilla, leading to widespread backlash from employees, users, and activists who viewed it as anti-LGBTQ+. Eich resigned from Mozilla after just 11 days amid the outcry, expressing regret for causing pain but not fully recanting his views.

Some people, including in the LGBTQ+ community and allies, continue to avoid or criticize Brave on these grounds, seeing it as support for leadership with historically discriminatory stances. This isn't a "new" issue in 2025—it's tied to events from over a decade ago—but it persists in discussions about ethical tech choices. Brave has faced other unrelated controversies (e.g., ad practices), but this one specifically relates to anti-LGBT perceptions.

For more details:
- [Wikipedia on Brendan Eich](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brendan_Eich)
- [Article on the Mozilla controversy](https://www.osnews.com/story/27646/the-new-mozilla-ceos-political-past-is-imperiling-his-present/)
- [Recent discussion on Brave controversies](https://www.reddit.com/r/browsers/comments/1j1pq7b/list_of_brave_browser_controversies/)
- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43300333

well fuck! brave is the one browser that fits all my needs.

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disconnectikacio@lemmy.world ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Google is evil.

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phoenixz@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
Wtf, confirmed. Ask about any person, any president on if they have dementia or not and it’ll answer

Ask about trump and it refused to interact, just dumps a search results window with funnily enough the first result being a page about how Google is censoring this

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- oppy1984@lemdro.id ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  Surfacing the result of how they are censoring the results might be a canary in a coal mine, we can’t say we’re doing it but we can make the top result someone else saying we’re doing it.
  
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  - tempest@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    The incentives don’t allow for this shit in an organization like Google. They can only respond to stock price and earnings.
    
    Very likely someone back channeled a demand and they folded like a deck of cards.
    
    So the team responsible for that AI box added Trump dementia to the list of things it won’t respond to.
    
    The team responsible for the news bits didn’t get the request so that just shows up in its place.
    
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Buffalobuffalo@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
“what does dementia look like in 47th presidents”

Works good, search gets the wink and nudge.

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- Dirac@lemmy.today ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  Can confirm 😂
  
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- Venator@lemmy.nz ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  also works if you replace “trump” with “the president of the usa” in your search:
  
  1000000874
  
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- ivanafterall@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  Not working for me, says AI overview not available.
  
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paultimate14@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
Dimensia Donny seems like a nickname that could fit

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- comador@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  Dinky Dick Dimensia Don
  
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  - ivanafterall@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    Diddles Diminutive Daughters
    
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- Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  How about “Donnie Dementia”?
  
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synae@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Can I get unavailable AI overviews for all my searches? Then Google has a chance to be usable again

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SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Google AI has dementia

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db2@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
Seems to work.

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- Envy@fedia.io ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  Thats not what theyre referring to. If you search "does donald trump have dementia", the ai prompt doesnt respond from its gathered results. Someone physically disabled the function.
  
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  - db2@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    “We’re going to punish you by making the results a regular search.”
    
    They’re threatening us with a good time. 🤷
    
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- Chozo@fedia.io ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  That's an example of it specifically not working.
  
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- pelespirit@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  Lol, they can’t pull everything.
  
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blimthepixie@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
Make Alzheimer’s Great Again

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RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Ok, so don’t look for an AI response? Sure, Google censoring results is shit, google NOT censoring results about the same query about Biden is even shittier, but you still get search results about the question.

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MourningDove@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
For fucks sake! Who really cares what Google’s shitty AI does? You can still search articles written by actual human beings. Has AI become so fundamental to our daily routine that we’re going to upset ourselves over what info the sleazeballs that created it allow it to produce?

Maybe try reading real information?

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- FriskyDingo@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  It’s further evidence of their compliance. This is useful news for people who haven’t caught on yet.
  
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- chunes@lemmy.world ⁨12⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  AI is the future, old man.
  
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- wolframhydroxide@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  In this case, I believe this article was written for those of us who are smart enough to realise that AI is all bullshit, and who understand that most people aren’t smart enough to figure out that first bit.
  
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kami@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
L M A O

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ininewcrow@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
So you’re saying that we should do more AI searches for “Trump Dementia”

… and use variations of it like … “Trump old losing his mind”, “Trump old senile”, “Trump dementia don”, “Donny Dementia”, “Ding Dong Dementia Donny Trump”

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ramenshaman@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
Good thing I stopped using google a long time ago.

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- TeddE@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  The whole value in searching is to get me to primary sources in a reasonably efficient way. Everything about AI is inserting extra middle men. I just don’t understand how anyone tolerates it.
  
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ghosthacked@lemmy.wtf ⁨13⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
What’s a good google alternative?

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- Guilvareux@feddit.uk ⁨13⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  Duckduckgo Ecosia Startpage Brave search
  
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- vpklotar@lemmy.world ⁨12⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  If you don’t mind paying a little I have found that Kagi is the best. Sure, the others mentions are free but subpar, even to google. Kagi is simply better but with the downside of a monthly subscription. I love that they are quite transparent with changelogs and stuff when the make changes.
  
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- droans@midwest.social ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  Kagi.
  
  The downside is that it costs $10 per month.
  
  The upside is:
  
  Privacy first
  
  You can pin websites to the top of results, promote them so they appear higher, demote them so they appear lower, or have them completely removed
  
  Lenses - quickly tell Kagi what type of results you want (News sources, academic articles, forum posts, programming sites, small web, etc.)
  
  Snaps - search shortcuts kinda like bangs. Eg, typing @w is the same as typing site:wikipedia.com
  
  An actual good AI summary. Completely unobtrusive - only activated when you press the button, doesn’t overextrapolate your request, and will only source the same results that you get from the search
  
  Direct image results
  
  When I first migrated a couple years ago, it was a bit worse than Google but pretty close. Nowadays, I find it to be much much better. It’s honestly close to how Google was back in 2015 before they made it garbage.
  
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bagsy@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
kagi is the best search engine right now. hands down. google can suck it.

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- MyNameIsIgglePiggle@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  There really has not been a better time than the late 90s to launch a new better search engine and supplant google
  
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  - tempest@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    Kagi does provide a good experience but it can never replace the free search engines. It relies pretty heavily on Google’s search API it just allows you to massage the results with tools Google took away.
    
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WhatGodIsMadeOf@feddit.org ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
There’s no such thing as freedom here.

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NoodlePoint@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
lmfao. Google isn’t the only search engine.

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- Jason2357@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  This isn’t about what you use, it’s about what the majority of the voting public uses and the influence on them.
  
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ChaosSpectre@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Oh so youre saying that AI companies can control what the AI says?

So meta letting their AI sext with children was intentional then…

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portuga@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
Why would anyone need to search that tbh

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Zwuzelmaus@feddit.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
What about “Peter Thiel” plus some desease?

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