According to leaked email via WikiLeaks[1], Alphabet's Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt had an interest in advising in the Democratic presidential campaign:
> I met with Eric Schmidt tonight. As David reported, he's ready to fund, advise recruit talent, etc.
There's obvious alignment between improving quality of news search results and Google's mission to organize the world's information. However, the timing of the initiative together with the current political climate suggest this is not an action made in isolation.
When do we begin to question this kind of action? When will it be too late to question it?
I'm sure, if The Market cares that much (and the right wing loves The Market), then there will be a thriving Conservoogle that will rise to provide unskewed results a-plenty where InfoWars and friends can cavort at the top of the SERPs.
The problem isn't that Infowars won't be ranked highly for news queries, the problem is exactly what GP said and what you glossed over: SV/academia people, who are overwhelmingly left-leaning (by location if nothing else), are not impartial arbiters of factuality.
And it's not like anyone is, but only the SV/academia types are getting input here.
That is a problem.
There is no way, none, that this won't be used against factual news with a conservative bent. I'd wager my entire net worth on it.
Eropple, please stop deleting your comments. You've done it twice now, and it makes having a conversation very difficult. Many of us are using a notification service and so your words remain in email inboxes.
Poorly researched facts could surface if from a reputable source.
Or I suppose you could trust science and other institutions, occasionally, with appropriate skepticism. If Google explains how they classify things as fake news and you believe them, to a first approximation, then it's reasonable to be happy with this feature.
I don't know how you unwind that, though.
This means that they decide what is truth within Google properties.
Ie. Infowars is generally poor quality, but not always false. I only read it for a giggle on occasion fwiw.
for example?
The reality is even he has admitted he's just a "performance artist"
"I am sure 3 million illegal aliens voted while global warming is a hoax! Obama paid off all the scientists." - I literally have friends on facebook who say stuff like that every time I repost articles from HN about rising temperatures or CO2 concentrations.