Not surprising. If you were a bit imaginative in the old days, and put your power hungry psychopath hat on (which is a fair description of those in power), you

Not surprising. If you were a bit imaginative in the old days, and put your power hungry psychopath hat on (which is a fair description of those in power), you could imagine the ways technology could be used to silently produce net effects and results without anyone really knowing to avoid any protest. Here’s another one: Google can use your aggregate data along with other sources to determine whether you seem like someone favorable to the regime or not. If not, the probability distribution shifts in a way that directs you toward certain jobs and so forth that keep you from what the refine doesn’t want you near. It’s like a BigTech version of providence, except unlike divine providence, they don’t care about you. Or if they don’t like you, reveal unflattering information about you to people you know in ways that look like search results. Lots of possibilities. People are also too complaisant to protest things like these even when it’s made public.