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As soon as you realize how much of Google's bottom line is scam and malware distribution, it becomes really hard to view the company as anything but crooks. Go
by ocdtrekkie 4y ago
As soon as you realize how much of Google's bottom line is scam and malware distribution, it becomes really hard to view the company as anything but crooks.
Google's other big line of business is shaking down businesses for cash by selling the top result for someone's own brand name unless they're paid for protection.
- matheusmoreira 4y agoEven if ads were 100% legit verified links, they would still be scams. Advertising is inherently untrustworthy. Why do people trust anything a corporation says about their own products? In the best case scenario, they're highlighting the pros and omitting the cons. Usually they're just straight up lying. I want real opinions written by real people with no conflict of interest. People who are't getting paid by the corporation.
- ocdtrekkie 4y agoI agree, but the fact that even if you hold the view that ads are beneficial to society, Google is still a bad actor and a net negative to all of us, is particularly noteworthy. We all pay for Google via folks paying ransoms and other scams, having to indirectly pay for high ad budgets every company has to pay off Google to avoid their own search result being squatted by a competitor, etc. There is no company on the planet that the world would benefit more from being shut down.
- robocat 4y ago> shut down Google (paraphrased) But the incentives for advertising remain the same, so another similar competitor with similar evilness would emerge to replace them. I don’t believe the problem is “Google is evil”. I think the problem is that the incentives create evil, and there is little effective effort (that I have seen) to fix Google’s incentives through legislation or other means. I worry that many other major companies we interact with are heading down the same path. TVs are one canary warning us. Another example: Apple seems to be getting keener on advertising revenue, and I’m not sure that opposing incentives (within Apple or by their customers) are strong enough to overcome the financial temptation. That temptation leads to eventual sin (to use a religious metaphor!) Apple already commits egregious harm through many kinds of “free” apps.
- ericlnu 4y ago10000% agreed
- agluszak 4y agoWhy is this getting downvoted?
- iamacyborg 4y agoBecause it’s nonsense
- matheusmoreira 4y agoWhy?
- notahacker 4y ago
- matheusmoreira 4y agoI wasn't even talking about paid links specifically. It's advertising in general that's the problem. Call me a child all you want, I don't care. The simple fact remains that they have an inherent conflict of interest. It's not an absurd argument at all. People who want to sell you something have every incentive to distort the truth and only fools believe them.
- iamacyborg 4y agoArguing that advertising in general is bad is even more of a nonsense statement.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- ericlnu 4y agoYes. Please, people, stop believing their lies. Use your minds too. Don't just react.
- ptato 4y agoAdvertising is not meant to be educational, it's meant to make you aware the product exists. Of course you're don't have to trust what the company is saying, but now you know their product exists and what it does. If it was something you were looking for, you can now research it and ask for opinion.
- orangecat 4y agoAdvertising is not meant to be educational, it's meant to make you aware the product exists. That's maybe 10% of what advertising does. Everyone on the planet is well aware that Coke is a carbonated beverage.
- BLKNSLVR 4y agoAdvertising is manipulative by it's very nature. Being made aware that it exists is manipulative in a somewhat forgivable way, but often the words and message are intended to motivate people with various forms of emotional manipulation. Advertising is pretty gross. And maybe that wasn't always the case, and maybe it's also using advertising in place of another word, but that's where it's ended up in my understanding of the world.
- ericlnu 4y agoTo add, It's become lifestyle sales, of you buy this, you'll be this. They use that technique just about everywhere now. Used to be just cars and fashion. Like someone else said, emotional manipulation, narcissistic [my add]. Most people don't think with logic, but with emotions, so they're easy targets. Which makes me sad, because frankly no one deserves to get scammed and lied to. I'm the type of person to appreciate direct and frank discussion. Many don't like this, especially people having power ambitions.
- mxkopy 4y agoIn a post-Google world the purpose of advertising is to influence the internal associations someone has with a product or brand
- matheusmoreira 4y ago
- missedthecue 4y agoI would bet real money that a negligible amount of Google's bottom line is scam and malware distribution.
- ocdtrekkie 4y agoI am confident even Google fails to understand how much of their own business is scams and malware.
- yazzku 4y agoThis is not merely rhetorical. Nvidia, for example, was caught hard during the first cryptocurrency bust... and the second.
- itronitron 4y agoI haven't used Google Search in over four years but it sounds like they have followed the SourceForge path based on your description.
- ericlnu 4y agoPretty much, and worse
- account42 4y agoOh it gets worse: Google has the gall position themselves on the authority on malware on the web [0], which they of course do with the same dedication to quality and support that they are known for in their other offerings. So they distribute malware themselves while defaming others with accusations of distributing malware. [0] https://safebrowsing.google.com/ https://safebrowsing.google.com/