"This was an error. This fact check was initially applied to a doctored photo showing the secret service agents smiling, and in some cases our systems incorrectly applied that fact check to the real photo. This has been fixed, and we apologize for the mistake," Lever stated.

The original image, captured by Associated Press photographer Evan Vucci, shows Trump with blood on his face, surrounded by Secret Service agents. This photo has been widely used by news outlets' coverage of the shooting incident.

The mistake comes amid growing concerns about the influence of technology companies on information dissemination, particularly about political events. Critics have accused Big Tech of potentially manipulating information to favor certain political parties.

In a separate incident, Google faced criticism when users discovered that its autocomplete feature was omitting references to the July 13 assassination attempt on Trump. A Google spokesperson stated that this was due to existing protections against autocomplete predictions associated with political violence and that they were working to improvement their system. 

These incidents have fueled ongoing debates about the role and responsibility of technology companies in managing and presenting information, especially in the context of political events and elections.