How Google Alters Search Queries to Get at Your Wallet
www.wired.com
Testimony during Google’s antitrust case revealed that the company may be altering billions of queries a day to generate results that will get you to buy more stuff.

cross-posted from [email protected]

  • Google may be altering billions of search queries daily to generate results that increase purchases.
  • Testimony in an antitrust case revealed an internal Google slide about changes to its search algorithm, involving “semantic matching” to generate more commercial results.
  • Google covertly changes user queries, substituting them with ones that generate more revenue for the company and display shopping-oriented results.
  • This manipulation benefits Google’s profits but harms search quality and raises advertiser costs.
  • Despite legal challenges, Google’s market dominance allows it to continue these practices, impacting users’ ability to access unbiased information.
  • Linssiili@sopuli.xyz
    3·
    1 year ago

    Probably, since every other post is about search engines, and many of us have been cursing the ever-worsening search results from google, with no real alternative (that actually provides better results than google).

    Now that there is finally an ad-free product that performs like Google did 5-10 years ago, of course, I want others to have the same experience and not get frustrated when they can’t find the information they’re seeking.