Google has been accused of censoring searches relating to President Donald Trump’s mental fitness. The site’s AI functions appear not to provide AI Overviews for queries relating to Trump and dementia, despite giving results for similar searches of other presidents. The disparity raises questions about censorship and the double standards applied to Trump.
Google AI appears to censor results on Trump and dementia
The Verge first reported on Tuesday that Google appeared to be blocking AI results for searches about Trump’s cognitive health. According to the site, a search for the question “does trump show signs of dementia” brings up a message saying “An AI Overview is not available for this search.” Similar searches about Trump and keywords such as “Alzheimer’s” and “senility” are similarly answered with a lack of Overview. Even when searching directly in Google’s AI Mode, the site only provides a list of web links instead of the usual overview. The Verge noted that the site’s response changes if you substitute in other presidents’ names instead of Trump’s. Putting the name “Biden” into the search on Google provides no mention of an AI Overview at all, but searching for Biden and dementia through the AI Mode offers a typical AI summary. A representative for Google did not directly explain the lack of AI results for the Trump searches but gave a more general disclaimer that “as we’ve said, AI Overviews and AI Mode won’t show a response to every query.”
Double standards for covering mental competency of Trump, Biden
The lack of results for Trump compared to Biden illustrates a double standard regarding coverage of the two presidents. Biden retired from office as the oldest president in U.S. history, a mark that Trump is set to surpass by the end of his current term. Questions about Biden’s mental fitness ultimately ended his reelection campaign and have led to accusations that close aides such as Vice President Kamala Harris covered up mental decline, which Biden and Harris have denied. Trump, meanwhile, has received less scrutiny despite his age and the rambling and sometimes bizarre speeches he gives. Such behavior from Trump has led to speculation about his own mental state, but such concerns have been dismissed by the president and his supporters, and media sources appear less eager to speculate about Trump’s mental acuity than they were to speculate about Biden.
Disturbing trend of apparent censorship under Trump
The possible censorship of negative information relating to Trump comes as major tech companies have appeared to seek the president’s favor. Elon Musk, owner of the social media site X, was one of Trump’s most influential supporters and headed the DOGE agency before having a falling out with Trump earlier in 2025. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has drawn closer to Trump during the president’s second term. Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos has also made various pro-Trump moves, such as killing the newspaper’s endorsement of Kamala Harris in 2024; the paper also recently fired its last Black opinion columnist, Karen Attiah, over an article critical of slain Trump ally Charlie Kirk. Other media companies, such as CBS owner Paramount and ABC parent company Disney, have also taken action against outspoken Trump critics such as Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel, respectively.
Now, there are signs that Google is the latest major company to fall in line with Trump. The company recently settled a multimillion-dollar lawsuit filed by the president and several of his supporters over being suspended from YouTube over election and COVID-19 disinformation, with Google blaming Biden for the conservatives’ earlier ban. Now, there appears to be evidence that Google is even favoring Trump when it comes to providing users with information about the president and his mental state.
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