Typing “racist” into Twitter’s people search yielded US President Donald Trump as the first suggested account on Wednesday

Typing “racist” into Twitter’s people search yielded US President Donald Trump as the first suggested account on Wednesday, the British news outlet The Independent first reported.

Although the social media platform has not made any statements regarding the development, it’s speculated that many of Trump’s critics are labeling him as a racist given the current political climate in the US following the recent killing of unarmed African-American man George Floyd.

Amid the widespread US protests against police brutality, one of Trump’s tweets was flagged by the social media platform for “glorifying violence.” In the May 29 post , Trump said that “thugs” are “dishonoring the memory of George Floyd.” He also wrote that “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.”

In a statement to AFP, Greg Sterling, a contributing editor at the website Search Engine Land, said the Twitter search result may indicate that "so many people are using the words 'racist' or 'racism' to respond to or describe Donald Trump, or there's a concerted effort to associate Trump's account with those terms."

However, it’s also possible that many Trump supporters trying to defend the president from accusations of racism may also be using the term “racist” in their replies.

Sterling also noted to AFP that Twitter’s ranking algorithm for tweets "uses a variety of signals, including how recently the tweet was published, its relevance (personalization), user engagement with the tweet, the presence of rich media (such as video or images) and several other variables.”

The analyst also pointed out that in 2007, so-called “Google bombing” was used to manipulate Google search results so that then-US President George W. Bush was directly linked to the term “miserable failure.”

According to WordStream, Google bombing is “aimed at increasing a webpage's rank for a specific Google search by exploiting its algorithm. Google bombing generally involves artificially inflating the number of pages that link to a page and the words used in the link's anchor text.”

Kjerstin Thorson, a Michigan State University politics and social media professor, told AFP that a more comprehensive analysis is necessary to determine why Trump was being associated with racism on Twitter, but noted that “it's not unlikely this could be an accurate representation of what people are saying" on the social media site.

"The platforms have gone out of their way to avoid any appearance of bias," she added.

Tensions between Twitter and Trump have been high in recent weeks. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has defended his platform's recent decision to fact-check Trump’s tweets ahead of the US elections in November. Trump, in response, signed an executive order last week intended to weaken a law that prevents people from suing social media platforms over content posted by their users.

NRA_HEROES: LT.COL SAM KATABARWA (RIP) R0/00021

Katabarwa, one of the commonest names in revolutionary songs. In Sowing the Mustard Seed, it is said Katabarwa, who had trained at Monduli, had been working with the external committee in Nairobi when he was contacted by an official in the Obote government, around 1985 proposing peace talks.

He was betrayed while following up this contact and was arrested and murdered in 1985

NRAHEROES: MAJ AHMED SEGUYA ( RIP) R0/00011

He was the first commander of the National Resistance Army and died of stomach ailment at the start of the 1981-86 war. His body was preserved by collaborating doctors at Mulago until 1990 nearly10 years after he died, when he was buried with full honours.

NRAHEROES: Lt. JOY MIREMBE R0/00029 ( RIP

She died in 1982 during childbirth in the bush. She was the wife of a prison warder. She is remembered as having been involved in the armed struggle since the 1970s.

Joy was also an NRC member in 1981. Being the first woman in the bush, she inducted the new women into bush life. She was also a competent recruiter, having recruited the likes of Lt Col Ahmed Kashillingi.

NRAHEROES : GEN EMMANUEL FRED GISA RWIGYEMA (RIP) R0/00015

Rwigema was born on 10th April, 1957 in Gitarama, in the south of Rwanda. Considered a Tutsi, in 1960 he and his family fled to Uganda and settled in a refugee camp in Nshungerezi, Ankole following the Hutu Revolution of 1959 and the ouster of King Kigeli

After finishing high school in 1976, he went to Tanzania and joined FRONASA, a rebel group headed by Yoweri Museveni. It was at this point that he began calling himself Fred Rwigema.

Later that year, he traveled to Mozambique and joined the FRELIMO rebels who were fighting for the liberation of Mozambique from Portugal's colonial power.

In 1979, he joined the Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA), which together with Tanzanian armed forces captured Kampala in 1979 and sent Idi Amin into exile.

He later joined NRA, which fought a guerrilla against the government of Milton Obote. It was here that Rwigyema first fought alongside a number of future RPF leaders including Rwandan president Paul Kagame, Patrick Karegeya, and Kayumba Nyamwasa. Fred Rwigyema was the commander of the western axis

After the NRA captured state power in 1986, Rwigema became the deputy Minister of Defence. He was regularly at the front line in northern Uganda during the new government's offensives against remnants of the ousted regime.

On 1 October 1990, Rwigyema led the a splinter group of NRA troops in an invasion of northern Rwanda.What became the RPF chose this date as it was close to Ugandan independence day on 9 October. This served as an excuse for Rwigyema, as the movement could be disguised from the main NRA as a military parade.

On just the second day of the struggle, Rwigyema was shot in the head and died at Nyabwenshogozi Hill

NRAHEROES : RO/00017 Brig. Chef Ali (RIP)

Brig Chef Ali traces his involvement in the struggle to the 1970s when he led his own unit in the struggle against Idi Amin which he later merged with Museveni’s NRA.

He commanded the 11th Battalion that besieged Mbarara Barracks and later captured Nakulabye and Makerere during the last onslaught on Kampala. He died of natural causes in 1997

NRAHEROES : LT. SAM MAGARA (R.I.P) R0/00022

In his book Sowing the Mustard Seed, President Museveni says 2nd Lt Sam Magara was one of the few well-trained soldiers that the young National Resistance Army (NRA) had. He was among the many that Museveni recruited in his FRONASA

Together, they created a bond and though it did not last for many years, was thick to create a lasting impression in the military history of this country.Magara became one of Museveni's military confidants. For example, during the attack on Kabamba, Museveni travelled with him in the same pick-up truck. According to Museveni, it was him and Magara who were in charge of the whole operation.

After the attack on Kabamba, he led one of the first four sections of the then Popular Resistance Army. At the time, his section was operating along Bombo Road.

Because of his seniority, President Museveni used to leave Magara in charge of operations against UNLA. Museveni recounts one of such incidences. Before I left for Europe, I left Magara in charge of the forces, he says.

And indeed, Magara performed well.During my absence, He carried out several operations and captured more guns, which brought the total number of guns in our arsenal from 60 to 100, Museveni recounts on his return from Europe in 1982.

In August 1983, NRA high command held a meeting in Semuto in Luweero district. After the meeting, Magara and several other comrades decided to come to Kampala. According to retired Captain Tofa Agaba, Magara had a tooth problem, which he wanted treated in Kampala.

He went and spent the night at Katenta Apuuli's house in Mengo, while we went at Nakulabye,recounts Agaba.

In the morning, Agaba and another NRA fighter went to check on Magara. We found him sleeping. But as soon as we settled down, the housegirl came running to the room. She told us that there were so many soldiers outside,Agaba remembers.

We looked through the window and saw almost a platoon of soldiers outside. We took off through the back door and jumped over the fence. Magara was following us, but then he remembered that he had forgotten his brief case inside the house, Agaba says.

As the NRA army commander at the time, the case is believed to have contained a lot of important documents. Among others, it had photographs of some of the rebel soldiers and sympathisers, many of whom were in Kampala.However, Magara did not make it. He was shot several times in the chest and all over the body

Agaba came back to the scene after the shooting stopped. I wanted to make sure if it was our commander who had been killed. I then went back to the bush and took the news to mzee (President Museveni).Agaba says this was his worst moment in the bush.