Google launches election search trends page in Pakistan

Google has launched a trends page for Pakistan's general elections to help media outlets and the general public gain easy access to data, said a statement released by the company on Tuesday.  

"With general elections scheduled to be held on February 8, 2024, many Pakistanis will be searching for information online about the political parties and other related topics to help them navigate the electoral process."

The trends page will serve as a " tool that exhibits the top search queries, topics, and interests in parties contesting the elections".

The page will also include data on the top election-related topics searched in each part of the country, such as economy, taxes, and wages, among others. 

"All the charts from the Google trends page are embeddable on any site and will continue to update even after they’re placed on an outlet’s site," added the statement. 

However, the tech giant clarified that the trends page is "not a poll or survey and does not reflect voting intentions".

"It merely reflects people’s search interest about particular topics at a local level over a period of time."  The statement elaborated that a spike in a particular search query does not reflect that a political party is somehow “more popular” or “winning”.