7 ms·
How can you tell the difference between an earnest concern for public harms and an opinion from a lobbying campaign?
by an_opabinia 6y ago
How can you tell the difference between an earnest concern for public harms and an opinion from a lobbying campaign?
- jeffbee 6y agoI don't know why, I just find it rather easy to identify astroturf campaigns run by spammers, SEO outfits, and Microsoft. Maybe it is just my age but the answer of the question "is Microsoft sincerely trying to save the Web?" is "LOL obviously not." When I read what seem to me to be rational and legitimate criticism of Google, it tends to come from a disinterested source like a law school or philosophers of ethics, or economists. But these also tend to be even-handed, recognizing that it might be globally optimal to have a single search provider, while criticizing Google for things where it is vulnerable to criticism, such as the fact that it both operates the major ads marketplace and owns the largest participant in that market.