BBC News reports Google has actively censored out the Google Autosuggest results to show ISIS for the search term [how can I join]. Previously, one of the suggestions showed [how can I join ISIS] but Google has removed it and now it no longer shows that suggestion.

Here is what Google currently shows me for that auto-complete suggestion:



The BBC screen captured their before and after screen shots here:

The BBC notified Google about the autosuggestion and shortly later, Google removed it. Google told the BBC:

We periodically update our systems to improve Search, so the terms that appear in Autocomplete may change over time. We exclude only a narrow set of search queries such as those related to pornography, violence, hate speech, and copyright infringement.

It is not uncommon for Google to remove auto-complete suggestions in the Google search bar.

Our very own Danny Sullivan was quoted by the BBC:

“It may be that people are simply typing it into Google for research purposes, to find out about Isis, rather than simply wanting to join it themselves,” says Sullivan. “But the reason we’re seeing Isis on Autocomplete is the number of people typing in ‘How can I join Isis’.”

Bing does offer this as an autosuggest but only after you lead into typing the i within the query [how can I join i], but Google has prevented it from even going that far: