I get that "censorship" is dominating some people's thinking these days, but the relevancy here is ... tenuous. Google always controlled the search results, an

I get that "censorship" is dominating some people's thinking these days, but the relevancy here is ... tenuous. Google always controlled the search results, and therefore the information you were going to see. Filtering the pages they link to isn't materially different from filtering the facts they choose to feature. There's also a complete lack of motive here: Google allows you to pay them to "manipulate" SERPS (by placing your ad on it). And they tend to follow local laws. Beyond that, there just aren't any credible examples of manipulation, nor are there any plausible theories as to what would motivate them to do so. I believe people feel uneasy about these changes because it's unsustainable: when they cut off all traffic to <x>, <x> will soon stop producing the data Google is recycling. Plus, we all see ourselves as potential heroes in a story about some scrappy startup or project doing cool things with barely any budget and being successful. That opportunity relies on search as one of very few zero-cost meritocratic channels to find users.