--- title: Donald Trump Tops Google Images Searches for 'Idiot' description: Protestors are gaming the Google algorithm so that when users search 'idiot,' images of President Trump pop up on Google Images. canonical: https://time.com/5342602/donald-trump-idiot-google/ author: Casey Quackenbush article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-07-19T03:31:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:53:56.149Z og:title: Anti-Trump Activists Are Gaming Google Searches for 'Idiot' og:description: Protestors hope to influence Google Images' algorithm og:url: https://time.com/5342602/donald-trump-idiot-google/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt979b6d93127fdf57/698935af0a4a226ce49d3392/gettyimages-1001241600.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: President Trump Holds A Cabinet Meeting og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Anti-Trump Activists Are Gaming Google Searches for 'Idiot' twitter:description: Protestors hope to influence Google Images' algorithm twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt979b6d93127fdf57/698935af0a4a226ce49d3392/gettyimages-1001241600.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Protestors Are Gaming Google Images So When You Search 'Idiot,' President Trump Appears by [Casey Quackenbush](https://time.com/author/casey-quackenbush/) ## Casey Quackenbush Jul 19, 2018 3:31 AM UTC  U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, D.C. on July 18, 2018. U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, D.C. on July 18, 2018.Olivier Douliery—Pool/Getty Images by [Casey Quackenbush](https://time.com/author/casey-quackenbush/) ## Casey Quackenbush Jul 19, 2018 3:31 AM UTC First President Trump topped protests across London as a [giant baby blimp](http://time.com/5331447/trump-baby-inflatable-london-khan/). Now, he’s topping Google Images. Protestors, activists and Internet users are seeking to influence Google’s algorithm so that when the term “idiot” is searched for, images of Trump pop up on Google. [According](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jul/17/trump-idiot-google-images-search) to the _Guardian_, this began when British protestors used the Green Day hit “American Idiot” as the anthem for their demonstrations during Trump’s recent [visit to the U.K](http://time.com/5338370/trump-london-protests/). But now more users are taking advantage of that online association by up-voting a picture of Trump and the word “idiot” on Reddit. As of Wednesday night, nine of the first ten results on Google Images searches for “idiot” were of or related to President Trump. This is not the first time [Google algorithms](http://time.com/5318918/search-results-engine-google-bias-trusted-sources/) have been manipulated. In 2004, searching “Jew” returned a hook-nosed caricature. [In 2009](http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/11/25/google.michelle.obama.controversy-2/), searching “Michelle Obama” returned users a photo of the first lady retouched with ape-like traits. And before the last U.S. election, googling “rapist” would likely return at least five images of Bill Clinton in the top 10, the _Guardian_ reports. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5342602/donald-trump-idiot-google/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5342602/donald-trump-idiot-google/"},"headline":"Protestors Are Gaming Google Images So When You Search 'Idiot,' President Trump Appears","datePublished":"2018-07-19T03:31:48.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:53:56.149Z","description":"As of Wednesday night, nine of the first ten results were of or related to Trump","url":"https://time.com/5342602/donald-trump-idiot-google/","keywords":["Newsfeed","politics","onetime","overnight"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt979b6d93127fdf57/698935af0a4a226ce49d3392/gettyimages-1001241600.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Casey Quackenbush","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/casey-quackenbush/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt979b6d93127fdf57/698935af0a4a226ce49d3392/gettyimages-1001241600.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Trump Holds A Cabinet Meeting","caption":"President Trump Holds A Cabinet Meeting","creditText":"Olivier Douliery—Pool/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5342602/donald-trump-idiot-google/","name":"Protestors Are Gaming Google Images So When You Search 'Idiot,' President Trump Appears"}}]}] ```