The claim: Google (leftist corporation) blacklisting leftist sites.
The evidence: None provided.
bool FakeNews == true.
Evidence of Google blacklisting of left and progressive sites continues to mount
11–20 of 20 posts
Re: Evidence of Google blacklisting of left and progressive sites continues to mount
#12[deleted]
Re: Evidence of Google blacklisting of left and progressive sites continues to mount
#13[deleted]
Re: Evidence of Google blacklisting of left and progressive sites continues to mount
#14So my bona-fides as one of HN's loud mostly-left-leaning people are pretty good, and--seriously, guys? Truthout ? Like, at times they've historically had some alright commentary--I originally wanted to say "mostly by mistake"--but it is one of the more obvious crank magnets I know of on the left. It's like a poor man's Alternet (and that's saying something). If Google's dinging stuff like Truthout at the same time th…
> If Google's dinging stuff like Truthout at the same time they're getting the right wing all aflutter at their epistemic closures being pushed down Google's SERPs, I don't really have a problem with that. I do, and I'm pretty left leaning as well. What bothers me is that Google is using human judgment rather than their supposedly infallible algorithms to punish certain sites to the advantage of others. There is a go…
Algorithms are human judgment put into code; there's no meaningful difference. I am all in favor of a neutral arbiter for search engines; one doesn't exist, though, so, there you go. It all comes back to people eventually.
There is a hierarchy of threats to deal with. The information war being directed at everyday citizens to empower real scary dudes is being carried on the back of willful and knowing disinformation campaigns from both non-state and (external) state actors, in the U.S. and elsewhere. The defenses we have are limited, and while I agree with you that it very well may be problematic down the line: if that means I'm in a foxhole with Google, I can live with that for now and work to fight that threat later.
Re: Evidence of Google blacklisting of left and progressive sites continues to mount
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
> If Google's dinging stuff like Truthout at the same time they're getting the right wing all aflutter at their epistemic closures being pushed down Google's SERPs, I don't really have a problem with that. I do, and I'm pretty left leaning as well. What bothers me is that Google is using human judgment rather than their supposedly infallible algorithms to punish certain sites to the advantage of others. There is a go…
Algorithms are human judgment put into code; there's no meaningful difference. I am all in favor of a neutral arbiter for search engines; one doesn't exist, though, so, there you go. It all comes back to people eventually. There is a hierarchy of threats to deal with. The information war being directed at everyday citizens to empower real scary dudes is being carried on the back of willful and knowing disinformation…
Fair enough. As my eldest says 'we'll burn that bridge when we get there'.
Re: Evidence of Google blacklisting of left and progressive sites continues to mount
#16So my bona-fides as one of HN's loud mostly-left-leaning people are pretty good, and--seriously, guys? Truthout ? Like, at times they've historically had some alright commentary--I originally wanted to say "mostly by mistake"--but it is one of the more obvious crank magnets I know of on the left. It's like a poor man's Alternet (and that's saying something). If Google's dinging stuff like Truthout at the same time th…
> If Google's dinging stuff like Truthout at the same time they're getting the right wing all aflutter at their epistemic closures being pushed down Google's SERPs, I don't really have a problem with that. I do, and I'm pretty left leaning as well. What bothers me is that Google is using human judgment rather than their supposedly infallible algorithms to punish certain sites to the advantage of others. There is a go…
> Google is using human judgment
If you have proof that humans at Google are actually choosing which sites to reduce the visibility of in search results, that would be big news, and I'd like to know about it. :)
Re: Evidence of Google blacklisting of left and progressive sites continues to mount
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
> If Google's dinging stuff like Truthout at the same time they're getting the right wing all aflutter at their epistemic closures being pushed down Google's SERPs, I don't really have a problem with that. I do, and I'm pretty left leaning as well. What bothers me is that Google is using human judgment rather than their supposedly infallible algorithms to punish certain sites to the advantage of others. There is a go…
Algorithms are human judgment put into code; there's no meaningful difference. I am all in favor of a neutral arbiter for search engines; one doesn't exist, though, so, there you go. It all comes back to people eventually. There is a hierarchy of threats to deal with. The information war being directed at everyday citizens to empower real scary dudes is being carried on the back of willful and knowing disinformation…
Furthermore, those algorithms are designed to reflect the prevailing winds of the market, if you will. So an unintended (?) bias, plus changes in backlinks, searches, etc. will be reflected in SERP. This happens all the time.
That said, nothing surprises me any more. I'm sure there are plenty of intelligence community "double agents" embedded in the tech Giants with any kind of influence.
Re: Evidence of Google blacklisting of left and progressive sites continues to mount
#18The article leaves open the possibility that left and progressive readers are switching to other search engines. We cannot draw our own conclusions unless we also know about changes in total traffic to the sites, in addition to change in number of visitors referred by Google search.
Or, just getting similar news elsewhere. As a fringe cause (if you will) goes mainstream (so to speak) some of the core infrastructure gets left behind.
You sell yellow widgets. They catch on. I start to sell them as well. I could very likely steal market share from you.
Re: Evidence of Google blacklisting of left and progressive sites continues to mount
#19Go google!
Re: Evidence of Google blacklisting of left and progressive sites continues to mount
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
> If Google's dinging stuff like Truthout at the same time they're getting the right wing all aflutter at their epistemic closures being pushed down Google's SERPs, I don't really have a problem with that. I do, and I'm pretty left leaning as well. What bothers me is that Google is using human judgment rather than their supposedly infallible algorithms to punish certain sites to the advantage of others. There is a go…
> Google is using human judgment If you have proof that humans at Google are actually choosing which sites to reduce the visibility of in search results, that would be big news, and I'd like to know about it. :)
That's not news at all, they've been penalizing sites manually for years.