Facebook admits 'mistake' in censoring iconic Trump assassination attempt photo: 'This was an error'
Facebook wrongly called the popular image of Donald Trump pumping his fist in the air after an assassination attempt against him an "altered photo," a spokesperson admitted Monday.
Users across X shared reports that their Facebook accounts were labeling the image as "altered", explaining "Independent fact-checkers reviewed a similar photo and said it was altered in a way that could mislead people."
Meta Public Affairs Director Dani Lever later explained on X it was done in error as the systems were meant to detect a separate version of the image.
"This was an error. This fact check was initially applied to a doctored photo showing the secret service agents smiling, and in some cases our systems incorrectly applied that fact check to the real photo. This has been fixed, and we apologize for the mistake," Lever wrote.
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Lever confirmed the mistake when Fox News Digital reached out for a comment.
The altered image Lever referenced featured the Secret Service members surrounding Trump smiling. USA Today and AFP United States previously fact-checked the images as "altered," though it confirmed the accuracy of the original image.
"None of the agents in the original image are smiling as they surround Trump, who has blood on his face and his right arm in the air. The image – which was captured by Associated Press photographer Evan Vucci and distributed by the AP – appeared with coverage of the shooting by CNN, The Atlantic, Business Insider and many other legitimate news outlets," USA Today explained.
USA Today’s fact-check on the altered photo was used as a "third-party fact-checker" when Facebook corrected the photo.
Backlash against Meta and Facebook come as concerns over Big Tech companies taking part in election manipulation to help Democrats. On Monday, Google users were surprised to find the website’s autocomplete feature omitting references to the July 13 assassination attempt.
Instead, it recommended other search results, such as the failed assassination of Ronald Reagan. The keywords "Trump assassination attempt" also did not offer any additional results.
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A Google spokesperson later told FOX Business that there was no "manual action taken on these predictions."
"Our systems have protections against Autocomplete predictions associated with political violence, which were working as intended prior to this horrific event occurring," the spokesperson wrote. "We’re working on improvements to ensure our systems are more up to date."
The company spokesperson added the autocomplete feature is "just a tool to help people save time" and they can still search for anything they want.
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Fox Business' Louis Casiano and Christina Wurm contributed to this report.