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In what meaning we could ever "trust" Google's search results? We have already witnesses myriad of examples of Google removing and modifying search results to m
by smsm42 7y ago
In what meaning we could ever "trust" Google's search results? We have already witnesses myriad of examples of Google removing and modifying search results to mollify various governments and private groups. We witnessed how Google banned substring "gun" (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16479204 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16479204) from Google Shopping results. We have seen people in Google discussing "ML fairness" (modifying algorithms to fit their perceptions of what results should be instead of showing what they actually are) and more broadly, their responsibility to shape political discussion and national election results. We now know they have the tools, the means and the motivation to influence search results, and that they have done it many times in the past. Commercial considerations add to this mess, but I think if the "trust" is the idea that Google just shows the search results as they are, without any outside considerations not related to the quality of search intervening, then this "trust" is long gone. Now the question is only who gets the power to play with it. Is it worse if Google sells a bit of this power instead of keeping it all to themselves? I don't know, maybe, but by then I don't think talking about any "trust" has any point.