Which search engine is the least censored?
michaelsuede.substack.com
Which search engine is the least censored?
1–10 of 50 posts
Re: Which search engine is the least censored?
#2Personally, I don't think this was a complete/valid test - Yandex could be censoring other things. The input test data primarily covered things that would fit a specific narrative, not one for the 'other side'. Has anyone done a more complete test?
Re: Which search engine is the least censored?
#3I found lots of articles from top media outlets about "Obama Ukraine biolab". I just put "fact check" in front of it. as I do with most random blog and/or facebook posts.
https://www.factcheck.org/2022/03/social-media-posts-misrepr...
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2022/02/25/fac...
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-08/china-pus...
Re: Which search engine is the least censored?
#4I found lots of articles from top media outlets about "Obama Ukraine biolab". I just put "fact check" in front of it. as I do with most random blog and/or facebook posts. https://www.factcheck.org/2022/03/social-media-posts-misrepr... https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2022/02/25/fac... https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-08/china-pus...
And often you will get factcheck’d by others for your said citations.
Re: Which search engine is the least censored?
#5Personally, I don't think this was a complete/valid test - Yandex could be censoring other things. The input test data primarily covered things that would fit a specific narrative, not one for the 'other side'. Has anyone done a more complete test?
Yes. I think the conclusion is that you would do well to use both Yandex and a typical western one for anything political.
Re: Which search engine is the least censored?
#6Personally, I don't think this was a complete/valid test - Yandex could be censoring other things. The input test data primarily covered things that would fit a specific narrative, not one for the 'other side'. Has anyone done a more complete test?
I think the validity is mostly scoped the current major world-wide events. It would be interesting to have some sort of topic censorship ranking website; give it a topic, and it ranks various search engines.
Re: Which search engine is the least censored?
#7But this gets me thinking.
"Censored" is definitely the wrong word here; it implies that there is some objective pool of information that we could all be getting to if it weren't for the search engines getting it wrong, and that's just not it.
It's definitely much closer to -- imagine 5 hypothetical bookstores owned by different people. Each has to make decisions on what to choose to carry based on their business interests, and so they do. But there's nothing I would call "censorship" about that.
And if we're deciding it is, then we have to be much more serious and intelligent in what to do about it. I'm thinking something like the EPA or FDA for search engines. If they have to tell us whats in the ketchup, then they have to tell us what's in the "search engine algorithms."
Re: Which search engine is the least censored?
#8Personally, I don't think this was a complete/valid test - Yandex could be censoring other things. The input test data primarily covered things that would fit a specific narrative, not one for the 'other side'. Has anyone done a more complete test?
Can you give examples of queries for the "other side"? I'd like to test them out.
Re: Which search engine is the least censored?
#9But this gets me thinking. "Censored" is definitely the wrong word here; it implies that there is some objective pool of information that we could all be getting to if it weren't for the search engines getting it wrong, and that's just not it. It's definitely much closer to -- imagine 5 hypothetical bookstores owned by different people. Each has to make decisions on what to choose to carry based on their business int…
When a company gets large enough, whether in the US or Russia, "good relations with the government" becomes one of your aforementioned "business interests". Call it whatever you want.
Re: Which search engine is the least censored?
#10But this gets me thinking. "Censored" is definitely the wrong word here; it implies that there is some objective pool of information that we could all be getting to if it weren't for the search engines getting it wrong, and that's just not it. It's definitely much closer to -- imagine 5 hypothetical bookstores owned by different people. Each has to make decisions on what to choose to carry based on their business int…
>"Censored" is definitely the wrong word here; it implies that there is some objective pool of information that we could all be getting to if it weren't for the search engines getting it wrong, and that's just not it.
1. I think that when it comes to "search engine censorship", most people know it's about search engines downranking/hiding certain results, not them literally going around burning books or blocking/taking down websites.
2. The definition for "censorship" is "The use of state or group power to control freedom of expression or press, such as passing laws to prevent media from being published or propagated". When it comes to the internet, getting downranked/hidden from search engines does a pretty good job at preventing such information from being "propagated", even though you could still access it via the deep web. As a thought experiment, suppose the government banned 1984 from being sold/read anywhere, save for you going to the library of congress in person. You can theoretically still read it, but at great difficulty. It's certainly more work than reading harry potter or whatever. Would you say such measures are not "censorship"?