Google suspends trend alerts in New Zealand after naming murder suspect

Google has suspended Trends alerts in New Zealand following criticism from the government that it published the name of a murder suspect, in violation of a court order.

The incident occurred in December 2018, when Google Trends published the name of a man accused of killing British backpacker Grace Millane. A few days after the murder, Google sent an email to anyone signed up for the “what’s trending in New Zealand” alert which included the name of the accused killer in the subject line.

The topic was picked up from a British newspaper report and forwarded automatically to all subscribers. This violated a suppression order and caused anger in New Zealand, where the serious crime rate is low and the crime shocked the country.

https://www.engadget.com/2019/07/05/google-trends-new-zealand/