Few people know that Google voluntarily removes some search results
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Re: Few people know that Google voluntarily removes some search results
#2Couldn't fit the whole tweet, so just to be clear, she's talking about manual, non-legal requests:
> One of the surprising things about working on the slander series is how few people in the field, even experts, know that Google voluntarily removes some search results. (No court order needed!) You have to visit this generic url: https://support.google.com/websearch/troubleshooter/3111061?...
Down the thread, she adds this:
> Because so few people know about it, "reputation managers" are charging people like $500 a pop to "remove damaging information from Google results." And ALL THEY DO is fill out that form for free. Someone tried to hawk this service to my husband after he came under attack.
I didn't know about this service URL, and had just assumed "reputation managers", if they did anything at all, were limited to SEO spamming.
edit: Searched HN for mention of this link and found exactly 5 results, 3 of which look unique, and the earliest in Dec. 23, 2015:
Re: Few people know that Google voluntarily removes some search results
#3...what? I've known of this for at least a decade. Do people expect Google to be some free-for-all of unmoderated knowledge that can be used to defame and degrade others?
Re: Few people know that Google voluntarily removes some search results
#4I would've thought more people would realize this from last years US election. That's too bad.
Re: Few people know that Google voluntarily removes some search results
#5If people don't know about this, they haven't been paying attention. I find the idea that 'even experts' (haha) don't know about this rather hilarious.
Re: Few people know that Google voluntarily removes some search results
#6What does the Internet Archive/Wayback Machine do in similar circumstances?
Re: Few people know that Google voluntarily removes some search results
#7Yeah also if you compare results from google vs duckduckgo for controversial search terms like "I don't care about gender identity"
Google will return only content that tells you why that opinion is wrong e.g. "why you should care about gender identity"
Whereas duckduckgo will return stuff that actually matches your search.
Google always errs on the side of left wing political platform.
Its actually really egregious once you start testing it out. To the point that google actually completely buries really valuable information such as primary sources for controversial events, scientific studies etc and instead promotes shitty wapo articles ans the like that tell you how to think about the thing you are actually searching for.
Re: Few people know that Google voluntarily removes some search results
#8Yeah also if you compare results from google vs duckduckgo for controversial search terms like "I don't care about gender identity" Google will return only content that tells you why that opinion is wrong e.g. "why you should care about gender identity" Whereas duckduckgo will return stuff that actually matches your search. Google always errs on the side of left wing political platform. Its actually really egregious…
Can you provide more examples of this?
Re: Few people know that Google voluntarily removes some search results
#9Yeah also if you compare results from google vs duckduckgo for controversial search terms like "I don't care about gender identity" Google will return only content that tells you why that opinion is wrong e.g. "why you should care about gender identity" Whereas duckduckgo will return stuff that actually matches your search. Google always errs on the side of left wing political platform. Its actually really egregious…
They call it prioritizing "authoritative sources" over organic results.
Re: Few people know that Google voluntarily removes some search results
#10I wonder what checks and balances are in place.
Can someone be a complete dirtbag and request that legitimate criticism be removed simply because they don't want folks to know they're a dirtbag?
Can convicts request the results be removed? How about sex offenders? How about people convicted of domestic violence assaults or similar?