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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”

#131

Post by qiskit »

kube-system wrote: post #66
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.

"unbiased" doesn't mean "unfiltered". For example, I don't want spam or malware in my search results. Search results should return good information that is relevant to your query, and filter out anything that is not that.

> Search results should return good information that is relevant to your query

Then they would also filter ukrainian, NATO, EU, US, etc disinformation. Almost all the disinformation that you see on social media ( western ) is ukrainian, NATO, EU, US, etc disinformation since russia has self-isolated itself to some degree and much of russian media/propaganda has been banned.

If DDG said we will down-rank sites associated with Ukranian, NATO, US disinformation, then maybe we could give them a benefit of the doubt.

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

#133

Post by kdazzle »

mrjangles wrote: post #20

Seriously what the f*ck makes Gabriel Weinberg think that myself, or anyone else, gives a damn about his personal opinion on what I should and should not be reading. The arrogance of these people is astounding. Also, absolutely zero of the standard base of Duck Duck Go users are the kind of people who don't understand what a Russian state controlled news site is, and why one would have to be careful reading it. Those…

> Also, absolutely zero of the standard base of Duck Duck Go users are the kind of people who don't understand what a Russian state controlled news site is, and why one would have to be careful reading it.

You sure about that? I keep hearing about the Jan 6ers being big DDG users. They seem like the types that aren't too savvy when it comes to misinformation.

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

#134

Post by pessimizer »

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.

If you're interested in the war, but not interested in communications from the countries involved in that war, that's willful ignorance. The essence of the censorship of Russian, Chinese, and Iranian media is to keep people from media that they would be interested in, not to help people avoid media they're not interested in; people do a good job of that themselves.

People who only want to read their government's approved information should download uBlock Homeland while the rest of us read what we want.

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

#136

Post by OtomotO »

noyeastguy wrote: post #75

I support this as an avid DDG user. Russian disinformation is a new kind of warfare that we've not inoculated ourselves against yet. This is a step in that direction. “in order to maintain a tolerant society, the society must be intolerant of intolerance.”

If you're intolerant you are not tolerant. If you only tolerate what you approve of, you're not tolerate at all.

The definition of tolerating includes viewpoints that are not your own.

Otherwise everyone in existence would be tolerant

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

#137

Post by cycomanic »

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.

Thank you! This really needed to be said. This is about political SEO Spam nothing else.

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

#138

Post by mywittyname »

wnevets wrote: post #82

Anyone upset about down ranking propaganda need to get their priorities straight. Why would you want to use a search engine that serves intentionally bad information?

Right. The problem with every "free" system is that is it will be eventually exploited by bad actors for fun and profit. At first, people were exploiting SEO to make money, now they are using it to gain power and influence.

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

#139

Post by Minor49er »

myth_drannon wrote: post #116
Minor49er wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It started long before Trump. Here is a list of just a few examples: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_by_Google

Right, but before it was done mostly secretly, with shame. Now censorship is normalized and announced proudly.

I would argue that most of it is still secret, or at least not widely known about. They're only announcing this particular censorship because it falls in line with popular current events

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

#140

Post by ColinHayhurst »

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.

To what extent does their agreement with Microsoft allow them to change rankings? Will Ecosia, Qwant, Yahoo! and so on be doing, or have to do, the same?
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