4 ms·

This is what happens when you Google the word “idiot” (not Bing/DuckDuckGo)

23 points by iafrikan 8y ago

JamesMcMinn 8y ago
The reason that Bing and DuckDuckGo have such similar results is that DDG uses Bing's search API, so the comparison here is only really between Bing and Google.
- iafrikan 8y ago
  Noted.
zygotic12 8y ago
Actually the results now show lots of 'news' sites saying 'This is what happens when you Google idiot". A self-fulfilling prophecy in the world of fake news - few people have pointed out 'traditional' medias role in this.
- iafrikan 8y ago
  We pointed it out in the article when we said it will get worse.
Pica_soO 8y ago
This is what a idiot sees when he is searching his own search bubble. No mentioning of disabled cookies and search from different mac-adresses and IPs. I always expect everybody to know that he/she is locked in on his/her political view island - but no, people assume that they get the same result when searching as everyone else.
- iafrikan 8y ago
  This is search, not Ads.
- p49k 8y ago
  Search results don’t vary that much based on these things, with the exception of how your location affects location-relevant results (like searching for tax info in the UK will less likely show pages from the IRS). Let’s not exaggerate here.
  - iafrikan 8y ago
    Exactly. Those points apply mostly to Ads, not search.
    - Pica_soO 8y ago
      Searched, idiot, showed a picture of me. I stand corrected.
      - iafrikan 8y ago
        Well... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- meko 8y ago
  How do you reconcile that when using a proxy to search, like DDG with the `g!` flag?
retrogradeorbit 8y ago
Reminded me of this recent piece https://spectator.org/everyone-is-smart-except-trump/ https://spectator.org/everyone-is-smart-except-trump/
murkle 8y ago
This story has reached the major news sites which I guess will increase the effect :) https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jul/17/trump-idiot-google-images-search https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jul/17/trump-idiot-...
phillipseamore 8y ago
I checked this when it was first noticed a few days ago and it appears to be that someone at Google added "Trump" as a synonym to "idiot" (and possibly other words). A strict search for "idiot" (with quotes) didn't yield the same result (only one or two Trump photos with context to idiot). This does not appear to be someone "poisoning" the results with clever tricks like some have said previously.

23 points by iafrikan 8y ago

The reason that Bing and DuckDuckGo have such similar results is that DDG uses Bing's search API, so the comparison here is only really between Bing and Google.

iafrikan 8y ago
Noted.

zygotic12 8y ago

Actually the results now show lots of 'news' sites saying 'This is what happens when you Google idiot". A self-fulfilling prophecy in the world of fake news - few people have pointed out 'traditional' medias role in this.

iafrikan 8y ago
We pointed it out in the article when we said it will get worse.

Pica_soO 8y ago

This is what a idiot sees when he is searching his own search bubble. No mentioning of disabled cookies and search from different mac-adresses and IPs. I always expect everybody to know that he/she is locked in on his/her political view island - but no, people assume that they get the same result when searching as everyone else.

iafrikan 8y ago
This is search, not Ads.
p49k 8y ago
Search results don’t vary that much based on these things, with the exception of how your location affects location-relevant results (like searching for tax info in the UK will less likely show pages from the IRS). Let’s not exaggerate here.
- iafrikan 8y ago
  Exactly. Those points apply mostly to Ads, not search.
  - Pica_soO 8y ago
    Searched, idiot, showed a picture of me. I stand corrected.
    - iafrikan 8y ago
      Well... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
meko 8y ago
How do you reconcile that when using a proxy to search, like DDG with the `g!` flag?

retrogradeorbit 8y ago

Reminded me of this recent piece https://spectator.org/everyone-is-smart-except-trump/ https://spectator.org/everyone-is-smart-except-trump/

murkle 8y ago

This story has reached the major news sites which I guess will increase the effect :) https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jul/17/trump-idiot-google-images-search https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jul/17/trump-idiot-...

phillipseamore 8y ago

I checked this when it was first noticed a few days ago and it appears to be that someone at Google added "Trump" as a synonym to "idiot" (and possibly other words). A strict search for "idiot" (with quotes) didn't yield the same result (only one or two Trump photos with context to idiot). This does not appear to be someone "poisoning" the results with clever tricks like some have said previously.