Re:Google Rewrites Its Powerful Search Rankings to Bury Fake...
by stephencanon on Tuesday April 25, 2017 @04:21PM
(#14197611)
I agree, but I draw a different conclusion: executives' social alignment is mostly about signaling; PAC spending tells the true story.
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?
[1] https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/36828