Good default. Now give us a separate switch: "Russian Propaganda: on|off", similar to "Save Search".
DuckDuckGo “down-rank sites associated with Russian disinformation”
141–150 of 865 posts
Re: DuckDuckGo “down-rank sites associated with Russian disinformation”
#142I personally don't like this move but seeing a lot other companies standing against Russia and applying similar "sanctions" makes me think they are doing this just for PR.
I'm absolutely not saying they shouldn't do anything to show support for Ukraine but a simple short sentence or small banner somewhere would be much better instead.
Re: DuckDuckGo “down-rank sites associated with Russian disinformation”
#143Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've watched US propaganda from WW2, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, etc. I don't trust the US government or their news agencies anymore than any other propaganda. They'll pick the facts that support their side and mix in lies without a second thought. There are three truths in war: My side, their side, and the truth. If they feel compelled to do something, poison the well by marking sites as suspected Russian propaganda. Othe…
Any links to this? I would love to watch some old videos from that time.
Not videos, but these two articles played a formative role in my worldview (related to Iraq):
WaPo: "Irrefutable" : https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/2003/02/06/i...
NYTimes: "Irrefutable and Undeniable" : https://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/06/opinion/irrefutable-and-u...
I find it extremely interesting to occasionally reread those knowing what we know now. And nothing has changed, except for now there is significant push to try to censor anything beyond such irrefutable sources.
Re: DuckDuckGo “down-rank sites associated with Russian disinformation”
#144Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Who are they to decide what is "disinformation". How do they know? Making decisions about which information to rank highly vs. lowly is, you know, kind of the definition of a search engine.
Yeah there's a lot of "anti censorship" warriors in this thread, who seem confused about what search engines are for
A search engine is for finding information.
Misinformation is a kind of information.
Re: DuckDuckGo “down-rank sites associated with Russian disinformation”
#145Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 appr…
And if you search for communications from the countries involved you will still find them in DDG! They're just no longer on the first page of a "Ukraine news" query
Re: DuckDuckGo “down-rank sites associated with Russian disinformation”
#146Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Sure it is. We can ask @yegg about their methodology
Re: DuckDuckGo “down-rank sites associated with Russian disinformation”
#147Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Yes
... Unless your "indicator" is "deviates from the Washington narrative", which is totally ridiculous.
Re: DuckDuckGo “down-rank sites associated with Russian disinformation”
#148Earlier quoted context omitted.
What should be shown if you search for „why did russia invade ukraine“?
analysts and historians saying "it's complicated"
But its not complicated at all. Ukraine is every year more prosperous and more connected to the west and Russia is weakening kleptocracy led by a disconnected, malicious, evil dictator that fears that if it doesn't seize the opportunity to return to its vision of a greater Russia that has a seat at the table in the grand scheme of things that it will ultimately be subsumed by either the west or by its own people who see clear evidence of a better way so close at hand.
In service of this goal it has turned first to brutal invasion of another nations sovereign territory and when this proved ineffectual to brutal mass murder of the Ukrainian people, war crimes, mercenaries, and assassins in hopes of breaking a nations people and its leaders.
The complicated thing is a full analysis of why its war machine and intelligence is so broken as to lead them to believe this would lead to course of action would be profitable.
Re: DuckDuckGo “down-rank sites associated with Russian disinformation”
#149Earlier quoted context omitted.
>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.
So like, what, everyones keeping this big secret and its just schlubs like you and me kept in the dark?
It's not a conspiracy (few things are because they just don't scale well). It's more what I call "assholes with similar motives/incentives." It has a lot of the appearance of coordination without needing secret meetings in smoke-filled rooms.
That said, sometimes it actually is coordination. Just look at the JournoList scandal.
Re: DuckDuckGo “down-rank sites associated with Russian disinformation”
#150You know, I am beginning to see that all that talk about mass psychosis caused by social isolation due to Covid and lockdowns was onto something. It explains a lot of what is happening right now. People are hyper-focused on only one thing and pay zero attention to long-term and larger-context consequences of their actions. And proud of it.
I have no idea what all of the talk about mass psychosis is even trying to say and the video about it that went viral feels a bit...manufactured?