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I've noticed that some search suggestions (such as "The Pirate Bay", and various "swear words") are now being censored, i.e., not appearing in search suggestions despite being popular queries. Is there any way to work around this problem?

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Have you tried modifying your "safe search" preferences in google? Are you in a country where The Pirate Bay website is blocked? (looked for this in your profile but didn't find) If so do you get a different result when you VPN through a network outside your home country? – AllInOne Jul 10 '12 at 11:22
@AllInOne Turning SafeSearch on off doesn't affect search suggestions. I still haven't found a way to stop certain words and phrases from being censored. – Anderson Green Jan 1 at 18:39

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I'm not sure why this is a "problem".

  1. Google was "asked" by the MPAA and RIAA to prevent piracy-related terms from showing up in autocomplete and they agreed to do so. Google is not required to show any search suggestions for any particular search term. If you don't like that, you can go use a less-popular search engine, like Bing, that hasn't yet been asked to implement such restrictions.
  2. Google has also chosen to hide various terms that are widely considered "NSFW" (Not Safe For Work) from the search suggestions. That way, you can use Google at work without having to worry about what your boss will see on your screen when he comes up behind you.

Note that if you purposely search for these any terms that do not show up in the suggestion list, you will still find them. Google is not censoring your search results.

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The filtering isn't limited to "The Pirate Bay". Various "swear words", among many other words and phrases, are filtered as well. They don't show up in search suggestions at all, unless a user specifically types out the entire word. Is there any option to opt out of this arbitrary word filtering system? I think it seems a bit unfair for Google Search to tell people what they should and shouldn't search for, without giving them an option to opt out of this system. – Anderson Green Jan 1 at 18:34
They aren't "telling people what they shouldn't search for", they are just not contributing to your query. You are still completely free to search for whatever you want. – Moshe Katz Jan 1 at 19:35
Yes, users are still free to search for anything they want That makes me wonder why they decided to filter out these phrases in the first place, without providing an option to stop filtering them. D: – Anderson Green Jan 1 at 21:14
They won't show suggestions that are NSFW ("not safe for work"). That way, you don't have to worry about when your boss walks up behind you and reacts to the first thing he sees on your screen. I have expanded my answer with this information. – Moshe Katz Jan 1 at 22:50

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