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How Google Alters Search Queries to Get at Your Wallet
(www.wired.com)
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this post was submitted on 02 Oct 2023
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This is a highly concerning allegation, and it does explain some interesting results I've noticed lately. I've wondered why, especially when searching for products, an expected result isn't there unless I invoke it by name. I'd chalked it up to their competition having more mindshare and thus a higher page rank score. Now I'm not so sure.
Worse, it somewhat supports claims that the far-right has been making, although those claims still completely miss the mark.
Which far right claims are you saying it’s supporting?
I think the claims I've heard irl are something along the lines of "can't trust Google search results, they're censoring 'em!" I figure the things they're mad Google "censors" are probably literal or borderline fascist content - and I also tend to assume they're probably misusing the word censor. I think the tenuous connection here is just that yeah Google is probably doing some shady stuff with their search results.
Yeah, pretty much this. A lot are upset that when you Google for something like vaccine safety, your top results are things like the CDC and the WHO instead of their favorite Bigfoot hunter conspiracy theorist.
And for some reason, they all seem to act like there's an actual person on the other side, individually restricting results.