I very much doubt that it is generic. Unless they have an artificial intelligence that analyzes queries, reviews the whole of human knowledge and determines the

I very much doubt that it is generic. Unless they have an artificial intelligence that analyzes queries, reviews the whole of human knowledge and determines the truth, and then prioritizes search results accordingly, it would seem more likely that they are manually stepping in. Once the media got hold of this story it isn't surprising they took action. I would guess they are simply adding an "odiousness" factor to some sites which will penalize them in search results, or giving a boost to "consensus" sites as necessary until the results are socially and politically acceptable.