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DuckDuckGo “down-rank sites associated with Russian disinformation”

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Re: DuckDuckGo “down-rank sites associated with Russian disinformation”

#81

Post by giaour »

adamrezich wrote: post #48
giaour wrote: post #33

Lot of hot takes and hostility in these comments, which is honestly kinda surprising. If your reaction to this news is negative, ask yourself, should DuckDuckGo downrank SEO spam? Then ask yourself how disinformation written to "go viral" on social media and in search results is different from SEO spam.

ask yourself why this particular variety of disinformation written to "go viral" on social media and in search results is different from any other. ask yourself whether your own state's government ever engages in similar activity, or whether this is something that only this specific state government in question does. ask yourself why other people making decisions about what kinds of propaganda you do and don't see is…

Did DDG say they're upranking "good" propaganda and downranking "bad" propaganda? What I understood from the tweets is that DDG is downranking propaganda. Russia happens to produce a lot of it, so they'd be more impacted.

Re: DuckDuckGo “down-rank sites associated with Russian disinformation”

#83

Post by azangru »

enragedcacti wrote: post #51
freediver wrote: post #22

I guess this did not age well: “[W]hen you search, you expect unbiased results, but that’s not what you get on Google,” @matthewde_silva quotes @yegg https://twitter.com/DuckDuckGo/status/1114524914227253249 Also, they probably do not realize that they will have to start with Twitter if to be consistent.

I really don't understand this view point. Isn't a search engine's entire job to effectively 'censor' the parts of the internet that aren't relevant or helpful to your search query? Is it censorship for them to downrank flat-earth content when you are trying to learn about how to chart a flight? Flat-earthers certainly have a lot of ideas about how charting a course on a flat earth works but that doesn't mean it's he…

> but do you really want your search engine to default to providing results from someone with a very clear agenda and a history of abusing their influence to carry out that agenda?

This is a very strange strawman. The implicit assumptions in this question are:

- That DuckDuckGo 'defaulted' to RT or to some other Russian media, which is hardly the case. It is the task of a search engine to infer, from its users' behaviour, which resources they find the most useful in providing answers to given queries.

- That other sources do not have a clear agenda :-)

Re: DuckDuckGo “down-rank sites associated with Russian disinformation”

#84

Post by giaour »

pphysch wrote: post #65
gibrown wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The people writing the search algorithms decide, just like they decide what a "good" algorithm is.

I would bet you $50 that DDG was handled/requested a blocklist of domains from a spooky US/UK govt associate and did not unilaterally create it themselves.

Your assertion is not falsifiable, but I would otherwise take the other side of that bet.

Re: DuckDuckGo “down-rank sites associated with Russian disinformation”

#85

Post by bsedlm »

axiosgunnar wrote: post #64
TehShrike wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. If I'm searching for Russian propaganda, I should see Russian propaganda in my search results. If I'm searching for good bicycle reviews, I should see good bicycle reviews.

What should be shown if you search for „why did russia invade ukraine“?

a mix of both with a slider to parametrize the sentiment of the results "it's pure evil VS itls good"

or I dunno... it's a near-waste of time to imagine what this could/should be as I'm in no poisition to build it.

Re: DuckDuckGo “down-rank sites associated with Russian disinformation”

#86

Post by hammock »

eli wrote: post #57
TehShrike wrote: post #40

I want to use a search engine that puts all its effort into down-ranking sites that I'm not searching for

Doesn't seem incompatible. I assume most people searching for general news about Ukraine are not seeking for Russian state media's take on it.

It's not, for him and anyone else you "assume." For others, yes.

Re: DuckDuckGo “down-rank sites associated with Russian disinformation”

#87

Post by ohCh6zos »

diego_moita wrote: post #11

Good! One more reason for me to remain a DDG user. This is the behaviour of responsible and accountable adults. "Censoring" is a word very badly understood and prone to manipulation. There are a lot of circumstances where suppression of information/opinion is justified: protecting intellectual property and copyrights, blocking doxing, prevent haters from doing harm against others, protection of military secrets or pe…

The problem is that their product was advertised as not doing this. They are totally free to do this, but it makes their whole product unfit for purpose.

Re: DuckDuckGo “down-rank sites associated with Russian disinformation”

#88

Post by giaour »

pphysch wrote: post #47
giaour wrote: post #33

Lot of hot takes and hostility in these comments, which is honestly kinda surprising. If your reaction to this news is negative, ask yourself, should DuckDuckGo downrank SEO spam? Then ask yourself how disinformation written to "go viral" on social media and in search results is different from SEO spam.

SEO spam is... spam. No one wants spam, and usually has obvious indicators of SEO manipulation. Q: Who determines what is "Russian disinformation?" A: Teams of "specialists" funded by the US/UK governments (Bellingcat, Atlantic Council, etc).

... are you saying Russian disinformation does not have obvious indicators of SEO manipulation? That would be a pretty big change for them.

Re: DuckDuckGo “down-rank sites associated with Russian disinformation”

#89

Post by deltarholamda »

enragedcacti wrote: post #51
freediver wrote: post #22

I guess this did not age well: “[W]hen you search, you expect unbiased results, but that’s not what you get on Google,” @matthewde_silva quotes @yegg https://twitter.com/DuckDuckGo/status/1114524914227253249 Also, they probably do not realize that they will have to start with Twitter if to be consistent.

I really don't understand this view point. Isn't a search engine's entire job to effectively 'censor' the parts of the internet that aren't relevant or helpful to your search query? Is it censorship for them to downrank flat-earth content when you are trying to learn about how to chart a flight? Flat-earthers certainly have a lot of ideas about how charting a course on a flat earth works but that doesn't mean it's he…

>but do you really want your search engine to default to providing results from someone with a very clear agenda and a history of abusing their influence to carry out that agenda

Have you met the US media?

If you don't look at this massive coordinated effort and smell something fishy, I just don't know what to say.

Re: DuckDuckGo “down-rank sites associated with Russian disinformation”

#90

Post by qiskit »

Is anyone really that surprised? Beware companies that sell virtue. They tend to be the least virtuous. Don't be evil? Easily one of the most evil companies to have ever existed. When DDG's prime selling point was not their service but their "virtue", you knew it was a shady company. Though I do hope DDG, Bing, etc are able to gain some market share to break google's stranglehold on search, DDG is at heart no better than google morally. They are out to make a buck, nothing more, nothing less, like google. If you think DDG cares one lick about your privacy or free speech, then you are fooling yourself.
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