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Tulsi Gabbard Sues Google for Suspending Ad Account

nytimes.com

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Re: Tulsi Gabbard Sues Google for Suspending Ad Account

#111

Post by moultano »

word-reader wrote: post #107
moultano wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I work at Google on ranking algorithms for Search. I'm aware of everything that controls how web pages are ranked. If I ever encountered a system that was designed to alter the results for political reasons, I would resign.

Just as an example: a controversial political figure's popular website is buried on page 5 of Google results (underneath a mountain of criticism) when you search for his name, despite being in the top 3 results of page 1 for all of Qwant, DDG, Bing, Mojeek, and Yandex. Obviously, the website is being downranked for being full of "conspiracy theories and fake news" (I wouldn't completely disagree that it is). But who…

I'd be happy to pass it along to debug if you have a specific query in mind. In the cases of this I've seen in the past, there's been a specific actionable bug that we were able to fix.

(Lots of other search engines use each other as backends, so don't be too surprised when they return consistent results.)

Re: Tulsi Gabbard Sues Google for Suspending Ad Account

#112

Post by mirimir »

danielvinson wrote: post #96
dang wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Changed to that now. See https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20528797 .

In general, I think people would appreciate the link not being to a paywall.

Indeed. The NY Times has become unreadable. Sad.

Edit: OK, if you hit reader mode fast enough, it is readable. Otherwise you just get:

> Thanks for reading The Times.

> Create your free account or log in to continue reading.

Re: Tulsi Gabbard Sues Google for Suspending Ad Account

#114

Post by ukd1 »

dang wrote: post #37
dvt wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mind using the NYT link? It's in my post above yours. I think it's higher quality than the Verge. (Although I still think in my heart of hearts we should link to Tulsi's blog post but I understand the opposing viewpoint.)

Ok, switched to that from https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/25/8930373/google-tulsi-gabb... .

It might be higher quality, but the paywall sucks.

Re: Tulsi Gabbard Sues Google for Suspending Ad Account

#115

Post by [deleted] »

favorited wrote: post #68
Natsu wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They've been caught on camera several times now talking about wanting to influence the elections. I keep that in mind when considering their excuses. Sort of like how Bernie got locked out of DNC databases during the last campaign, etc., it gets hard to believe all the coincidences sometimes.

> Sort of like how Bernie got locked out of DNC databases You mean after his staff got caught snooping around Hillary's campaign data? https://time.com/4155185/bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton-data...

[deleted]

Re: Tulsi Gabbard Sues Google for Suspending Ad Account

#116

Post by word-reader »

moultano wrote: post #111
word-reader wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just as an example: a controversial political figure's popular website is buried on page 5 of Google results (underneath a mountain of criticism) when you search for his name, despite being in the top 3 results of page 1 for all of Qwant, DDG, Bing, Mojeek, and Yandex. Obviously, the website is being downranked for being full of "conspiracy theories and fake news" (I wouldn't completely disagree that it is). But who…

I'd be happy to pass it along to debug if you have a specific query in mind. In the cases of this I've seen in the past, there's been a specific actionable bug that we were able to fix. (Lots of other search engines use each other as backends, so don't be too surprised when they return consistent results.)

I think DDG and Qwant basically use Bing as a backend, potentially augmenting with their own crawlers. Yandex and Mojeek use all their own stuff, as far as I can tell. The query is "alex jones". At least put the garbage website at the bottom of page 1 where most people who aren't already looking for it still won't click it, page 5 is just lacking in subtlety.

Re: Tulsi Gabbard Sues Google for Suspending Ad Account

#117

Post by cwkoss »

favorited wrote: post #68
Natsu wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They've been caught on camera several times now talking about wanting to influence the elections. I keep that in mind when considering their excuses. Sort of like how Bernie got locked out of DNC databases during the last campaign, etc., it gets hard to believe all the coincidences sometimes.

> Sort of like how Bernie got locked out of DNC databases You mean after his staff got caught snooping around Hillary's campaign data? https://time.com/4155185/bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton-data...

Bernie's campaign reported the vulnerability in NGPVan's platform to them and campaign asked the user who saw HRC data to resign.

Then they were suspended and the 'snooping in Hillary's data' spin appeared the next day.

Re: Tulsi Gabbard Sues Google for Suspending Ad Account

#118

Post by rhcom2 »

bufferoverflow wrote: post #59
DavidAdams wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

James O'Keefe claiming something doesn't make it a fact. On the contrary, I'd be inclined to doubt the claim in that case.

You clearly didn't look at the links. O'Keefe is irrelevant.

With the amount he's been caught doing "selective editing" I'd say he's pretty relevant.

Re: Tulsi Gabbard Sues Google for Suspending Ad Account

#119

Post by aaronbrethorst »

jessaustin wrote: post #110
aaronbrethorst wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Weird, I'd say "pro-dictator." That kinda jives with anti-war, depending on which war you're talking about, though, I suppose. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/26/tulsi-gabbar... https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/06/politics/tulsi-gabbard-syria-...

Why do you care so much about what the media has told you Assad has done? Assad is not and never has been a threat to you or anyone you know. It is a good thing that we didn't get into a protracted war with Syria. It's easy to see the results of our wars in Libya, Iraq, and Afghanistan. The Syrian people are fortunate that they didn't suffer the same fates as those nations. Gabbard's diplomatic mission is at least pa…

Assad is not and never has been a threat to you or anyone you know

1. That's an interesting assumption you make.

2. Why would I have to know someone personally to empathize with them?

3. U.S. foreign policy, as conducted by our military, has pretty consistently been a disaster for decades. I agree wholeheartedly with you on that point.

Re: Tulsi Gabbard Sues Google for Suspending Ad Account

#120

Post by roywiggins »

writepub wrote: post #81
roywiggins wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Under what law?

Multiple FEC laws where companies are barred from electioneering in kind, which is exactly what is alleged to be happening here. Political activity by companies is regulated. A petroleum company cannot offer in-kind donations of "unlimited" gas to a candidate, without flouting FEC campaign contribution and electioneering laws. Likewise, Google cannot artificially prop-up, or suppress a candidate without breaking FEC…

That has nothing in particular to do with whether Google is a monopoly or not, though. Google doesn't graduate into being regulated by the FEC just because it's big.
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