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I doubt anyone is alleging Elon Musk has control over Google's search. Google Trends suggests the same kind of interest change at exactly the same point in mid-

I doubt anyone is alleging Elon Musk has control over Google's search. Google Trends suggests the same kind of interest change at exactly the same point in mid-July: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=2024-01-01%202024-12-31&geo=US&q=elon%20musk&hl=en-US https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=2024-01-01%202...

beejiu 2y ago
Interesting observation. From my experience, any abrupt shift in a metric is normally due to external factors rather than internal ones. Something that academics seem to miss entirely.
- Phil_Latio 2y ago
  Yeah like an assassination attempt.
- mcguirep 2y ago
  Indeed. As others have noted, that would be when the attempted assassination of Trump was, shortly followed by Elon endorsing him and then forming his PAC [1]. I'd expect such activities to raise interest in his activities and statements, so this entire thing seems to be a staggering miss at asking very basic questions before leaping to conclusions. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America_PAC https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America_PAC
Dalewyn 2y ago
For the unaware or the forgetful, July 13, 2024 was the day someone tried to assassinate Trump.[1] I am not surprised that Trump and Republicans immediately garnered more attention as a consequence, rightfully or otherwise. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attempted_assassination_of_Donald_Trump_in_Pennsylvania https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attempted_assassination_of_Don...
- Jensson 2y ago
  The obvious answer is that Trumps assassination attempt were due to the twitter algorithm change that happened that day!!!
pms 2y ago
This could be the result of the news feed change at X and Musk's endorsement of Trump...
cma 2y ago
Twitter algorithm changes can presumably play some role in driving what people Google for.
- sshine 2y ago
  Presumably they can lead to assassination attempts, too. But it becomes hard to prove.

beejiu 2y ago

Interesting observation. From my experience, any abrupt shift in a metric is normally due to external factors rather than internal ones. Something that academics seem to miss entirely.

Phil_Latio 2y ago
Yeah like an assassination attempt.
mcguirep 2y ago
Indeed. As others have noted, that would be when the attempted assassination of Trump was, shortly followed by Elon endorsing him and then forming his PAC [1]. I'd expect such activities to raise interest in his activities and statements, so this entire thing seems to be a staggering miss at asking very basic questions before leaping to conclusions. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America_PAC https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America_PAC

Dalewyn 2y ago

For the unaware or the forgetful, July 13, 2024 was the day someone tried to assassinate Trump.[1] I am not surprised that Trump and Republicans immediately garnered more attention as a consequence, rightfully or otherwise. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attempted_assassination_of_Donald_Trump_in_Pennsylvania https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attempted_assassination_of_Don...

Jensson 2y ago
The obvious answer is that Trumps assassination attempt were due to the twitter algorithm change that happened that day!!!

pms 2y ago

This could be the result of the news feed change at X and Musk's endorsement of Trump...

cma 2y ago

Twitter algorithm changes can presumably play some role in driving what people Google for.

sshine 2y ago
Presumably they can lead to assassination attempts, too. But it becomes hard to prove.