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> Google always errs on the side of left wing political platform Reminds me that yesterday I tried googling around the topic of how covid affects fertility (eg

> Google always errs on the side of left wing political platform Reminds me that yesterday I tried googling around the topic of how covid affects fertility (eg. "covid fertility") and nearly every result that comes back is about vaccines not affecting fertility. Okay, thanks Google, but how about the actual disease? Results were a fair bit more relevant by adding "disease" to the query, but still got one or two about vaccines. I don't think you can call that behaviour favouring left. It feels as though they're creating vaccine hesitancy.

deertick1 5y ago
Perfect example. Had the exact aame experience. As someone who leans more right wing, I call it left skewed, but yes you are right it is not necessarily purely left aligned, or even at all. It feels like just any controversial opinion just gets obliterated by their ranking algorithm (in the case if covid I would bet a million dollars there was manual intervention in the name of public health tho)
- jfoster 5y ago
  But in this case they're transforming a concern about covid into a concern about the covid vaccine. Doesn't even make sense in the name of public health.
Blikkentrekker 5y ago
Perhaps much of it is not ideological on Google's part but actually simply the machine learning about what people want to see. It's entirely possible that such a disproportionate number of persons is more likely to access links about vaccines and such politics than what you searched for that the machine, not the man, has elected to favor those without having any real political motive.
- deertick1 5y ago
  Definitely the more likely scenario. Possible there is some gaming of the algorithms but yeah its just a popularity thing chiefly. I wish google was more concerned with accuracy of matches rather than populatrity
- jfoster 5y ago
  That did cross my mind. If it's actually due to that, then Google is just going to become increasingly terrible & always directing you to the most searched thing. Covid side effects -> covid vaccine side effects Best burgers -> McDonald's Best coffee -> Starbucks Best way to sort a list -> bubble sort
nradov 5y ago
That's the type of thing that you'll have to search on the specialized Google Scholar site to find useful results. https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=COVID+fertility&btnG= https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=COVI...
- IncRnd 5y ago
  That's exactly the poster's point.
TazeTSchnitzel 5y ago
COVID-19 is a special case. I think Google has intervened there to ensure that official sources are favoured due to concerns about the impact of misinformation in a pandemic specifically. This is not a common Google practice so far as I know.
- jfoster 5y ago
  But that's my point. If someone searches for "covid fertility" and Google unexpectedly decides to make it all about vaccines, in a way, they are a source of misinformation. Where someone was previously concerned with fertility as a result of covid the disease, Google makes them start considering fertility as it relates to vaccines instead, essentially going against their search intent & pointing them in the wrong direction.

deertick1 5y ago

Perfect example. Had the exact aame experience. As someone who leans more right wing, I call it left skewed, but yes you are right it is not necessarily purely left aligned, or even at all. It feels like just any controversial opinion just gets obliterated by their ranking algorithm (in the case if covid I would bet a million dollars there was manual intervention in the name of public health tho)

jfoster 5y ago
But in this case they're transforming a concern about covid into a concern about the covid vaccine. Doesn't even make sense in the name of public health.

Blikkentrekker 5y ago

Perhaps much of it is not ideological on Google's part but actually simply the machine learning about what people want to see. It's entirely possible that such a disproportionate number of persons is more likely to access links about vaccines and such politics than what you searched for that the machine, not the man, has elected to favor those without having any real political motive.

deertick1 5y ago
Definitely the more likely scenario. Possible there is some gaming of the algorithms but yeah its just a popularity thing chiefly. I wish google was more concerned with accuracy of matches rather than populatrity
jfoster 5y ago
That did cross my mind. If it's actually due to that, then Google is just going to become increasingly terrible & always directing you to the most searched thing. Covid side effects -> covid vaccine side effects Best burgers -> McDonald's Best coffee -> Starbucks Best way to sort a list -> bubble sort

nradov 5y ago

That's the type of thing that you'll have to search on the specialized Google Scholar site to find useful results. https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=COVID+fertility&btnG= https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=COVI...

IncRnd 5y ago
That's exactly the poster's point.

TazeTSchnitzel 5y ago

COVID-19 is a special case. I think Google has intervened there to ensure that official sources are favoured due to concerns about the impact of misinformation in a pandemic specifically. This is not a common Google practice so far as I know.

jfoster 5y ago
But that's my point. If someone searches for "covid fertility" and Google unexpectedly decides to make it all about vaccines, in a way, they are a source of misinformation. Where someone was previously concerned with fertility as a result of covid the disease, Google makes them start considering fertility as it relates to vaccines instead, essentially going against their search intent & pointing them in the wrong direction.