Former President Donald Trump has called on his supporters to “target” Meta and Google, accusing the Big Tech companies of “censoring” details about the assassination attempt on his life during a Pennsylvania campaign rally last month.
On Tuesday morning, Trump posted on his social platform, Truth Social: “They made it virtually impossible to find pictures or anything about this heinous act. Here we go again, another attempt at RIGGING THE ELECTION!!! GO AFTER META AND GOOGLE. LET THEM KNOW WE ARE ALL WISE TO THEM, WILL BE MUCH TOUGHER THIS TIME.”
Trump’s criticism followed reports that X users had observed a photo of him, celebrating after surviving the assassination attempt, being incorrectly flagged as “doctored” on Facebook. Additionally, Google faced backlash from GOP supporters who found that its autocomplete function failed to suggest results related to the assassination attempt when users searched for “assassination attempt on Tru.”
Both platforms have denied any malicious intent behind their actions. Meta explained that their fact-checking filter was initially applied to a modified photo of secret service agents assisting Trump off the stage after the shooting, which was mistakenly applied to a genuine image. The issue has since been corrected, according to a spokesperson. Google, on the other hand, stated that their filters aimed to prevent search suggestions that promote political violence and committed to improving autocomplete to better reflect current news.
Despite these explanations, some in Silicon Valley, doubtful of the platforms’ responses, supported Trump’s call to scrutinize Meta and Google. Balaji Srinivasan, an investor and former CTO of Coinbase, expressed his frustration on X, noting, “Tech guys don’t use Google search anymore. It’s not just censored. It sucks.” Srinivasan did not respond to Fortune’s request for comment.
Elon Musk, who owns X and has been a vocal Trump supporter, tweeted on Wednesday about his dissatisfaction with Google’s search results. He found that searching “Trump Rally” on Google led to Kamala Harris-related results. A Fortune reporter’s search for “Trump rally” in Chrome’s incognito mode yielded similar results, but the articles prominently featured “Trump” and “rally” in the headlines.
Google’s communications team clarified in a X thread that their aim is to provide the most relevant search results based on related news topics, which can shift over time. They emphasized that their search results encompass a broad political spectrum, citing that searches for “Kamala Harris” often include “Donald Trump” due to their frequent coverage together.
Neither Google CEO Sundar Pichai nor Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has endorsed a candidate for the 2024 presidential election. However, Musk has used the situation to highlight X’s strengths compared to Facebook and Instagram, a move unrelated to his rivalry with Zuckerberg. This episode reflects an unusually charged election season in Silicon Valley, marked by surprising endorsements and heated debates on X. Over recent weeks, high-profile tech figures, venture capitalists, and startup founders have been aligning politically, investing significant resources to influence the upcoming presidential election.
Here’s a look at which major Silicon Valley figures are backing which candidates.
Donald Trump supporters
Many tech leaders who support Trump are also prominent figures in the crypto space. Trump, who recently attended Bitcoin’s annual conference in Nashville, has styled himself as the “crypto president.” At the event, he pledged to transform the U.S. into a crypto “superpower,” fire the chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and establish a national Bitcoin reserve.
Numerous influential figures in the crypto industry have endorsed Trump. Ben Horowitz and Marc Andreessen, co-founders of the tech venture capital firm a16z and major investors in cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, publicly supported Trump on a podcast. Horowitz stated, “For little tech, we think Donald Trump is actually the right choice. Sorry mum, I know you’re going to be mad at me for this, but we had to do it.” Andreessen cited concerns about Democratic regulation of crypto as a key reason for his endorsement: “My big concern is what we saw in crypto was the foreshadowing of what’s going to happen in AI.”
ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood, known for her significant investments in crypto, also backed Trump. The Winklevoss twins, founders of the crypto exchange Gemini, have contributed $1 million each to Trump’s campaign. Additionally, crypto-related political action committees have spent over $28.5 million supporting crypto-friendly Republicans and opposing skeptical Democrats in congressional races, according to OpenSecrets data as of July 20.
On Wednesday evening, David Marcus, co-creator of Facebook’s Diem crypto project, announced on X that he was shifting his political allegiance from Democrat to Trump supporter.
Trump has also garnered broad support from other tech leaders. David Sacks, the venture capital investor and former PayPal COO who cohosts the All-In podcast, organized a fundraiser for Trump that reportedly raised $12 million. Sequoia Capital’s Shaun Maguire, who previously disclosed a $300,000 donation to Trump’s campaign on X, noted the personal cost of his political stance: “I lost friends and disappointed family. But that’s okay, I was expecting it. It’s sad we live in a time of such extreme polarization.”
Kamala Harris supporters
Several major tech figures are rallying behind Vice President Kamala Harris, who is expected to secure the Democratic nomination. Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn and InflectionAI, has been a significant Democratic donor, investing $7 million in the Future Forward PAC, a leading Democratic Super PAC. Hoffman has also reportedly reached out to friends and other donors to support Harris’s campaign.
On Wednesday, over 100 venture capitalists, organized under the group VCsforKamala, pledged to vote for Harris and seek donations for her campaign. The group includes notable figures such as Hoffman, venture capitalist Vinod Khosla, former Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, and angel investor Ron Conway. They issued a statement highlighting their support for Harris’s pro-business, pro-entrepreneurship, and pro-technological progress stance.
The VCsforKamala pledge has been signed by more than 500 individuals, all of whom are venture capital investors, tech founders, or leaders. Outside the venture capital sphere, Harris also enjoys support from Reed Hastings, co-founder and former CEO of Netflix, who has donated $7 million to her campaign. Aaron Levie, CEO of Box, has endorsed Harris but indicated he and other executives are awaiting more details on her tech policies before making further donations.
Former Meta COO Sheryl Sandberg expressed her enthusiastic support for Harris in an Instagram post. Philanthropist Melinda French Gates, ex-wife of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, also publicly backed Harris on CBS, praising her for her “inspiring vision for America.” Gates noted Harris’s commitment to issues like women’s reproductive rights, paid family leave, and caregiving, which align with her own values. Bill Gates, meanwhile, has chosen not to endorse any candidate due to his role with the foundation, which collaborates with any administration.