I think this already happens, as an example I was searching for something like "X in Garry Mod" and most things on the results were youtube results. I can't prove this is deliberate but it feels weird you search for some API and you get either a full page of Youtube results or Google answers.

Google always controlled the search results, and therefore the information you were going to see. Filtering the pages they link to isn't materially different from filtering the facts they choose to feature.

There's also a complete lack of motive here: Google allows you to pay them to "manipulate" SERPS (by placing your ad on it). And they tend to follow local laws. Beyond that, there just aren't any credible examples of manipulation, nor are there any plausible theories as to what would motivate them to do so.

I believe people feel uneasy about these changes because it's unsustainable: when they cut off all traffic to <x>, <x> will soon stop producing the data Google is recycling.

Plus, we all see ourselves as potential heroes in a story about some scrappy startup or project doing cool things with barely any budget and being successful. That opportunity relies on search as one of very few zero-cost meritocratic channels to find users.

The difference is that now they're incentivizing you not to click on the search results for informational searches. There could be damning evidence that IAmEveryone is mean to kittens on the first result, but if people don't click it they'll never know.

And they have been caught over and over either flat out memory holing or burying things they are ideologically opposed to as well.