The New Censorship: 'How Did Google Become The Internet's Censor and Master Manipulator?' (usnews.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Robert Epstein from U.S. News and World Report writes an article describing how Google has become the internet's censor and master manipulator. He writes about the company's nine different blacklists that impact our lives: autocomplete blacklist, Google Maps blacklist, YouTube blacklist, Google account blacklist, Google News blacklist, Google AdWords blacklist, Google AdSense blacklist, search engine blacklist, and quarantine list. The autocomplete blacklist filters out select phrases like profanities and other controversial terms like "torrent," "bisexual" and "penis." It can also be used to protect or discredit political candidates. For example, at the moment autocomplete shows you "Ted" (for former GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz) when you type "lying," but it will not show you "Hillary" when you type "crooked." While Google Maps photographs your home for everyone to see, Google maintains a list of properties it either blacks out or blurs out in its images depending on the property, e.g. military installations or wealthy residences. Epstein makes the case that while YouTube allows users to flag videos, Google employees seem far more apt to ban politically conservative videos than liberal ones. As for the Google account blacklist, you may lose access to a number of Google's products, which are all bundled into one account as of a couple of years ago, if you violate Google's terms of service agreement because Google reserves the right to "stop providing Services to you ... at any time." Google is the largest news aggregator in the world via Google News. Epstein writes, "Selective blacklisting of news sources is a powerful way of promoting a political, religious or moral agenda, with no one the wiser." Google can easily put a business out of business if a Google executive decides your business or industry doesn't meet its moral standards and revokes a business' access to Google AdWords, which makes up 70 percent of Google's $80 billion in annual revenue. Recently, Google blacklisted an entire industry -- companies providing high-interest "payday" loans. If your website has been approved by AdWords, Google's search engine is what ultimately determines the success of your business as its algorithms can be tweaked and search rankings can be manipulated, which may ruin businesses. Epstein makes an interesting case for how Google has become the internet's censor and master manipulator. Given Google's online dominance, do you think Google should be regulated like a public utility?

Comments

He really hates Google

[Anonymous Coward]

He seems to have it out for Google ever since they detected malware on his website. All of his articles since then have been Google bashing.

Re: He really hates Google

[Kreplock]

Rules or requirements there aren't enforced or followed are not loopholes. Loopholes are explicit exemptions.

Google Play censors your video games

[Anonymous Coward]

Google Play bans Bomb Gaza
http://www.israelnationalnews....
http://www.channel4.com/news/b...

Google bans Whack The Hamas
http://jewishbusinessnews.com/...

Google Play bans Milo Tosser
https://twitter.com/riffraffga...

Google Play permanently bans developer of "Hilliar Clinton" game
http://www.breitbart.com/tech/...

Epstein just hates Google

[Chalnoth]

Back in 2012, Epstein's website got blocked by Google because it was hosting malware. He's hated Google ever since.

Re:Autocomplete blacklist? Oh, your aching fingers

[hairyfeet]

Its more the fact that if you type "Hillary In" you get "Hillary India" which google's own trends show NOBODY is actually looking for whereas you type the same phrase into yahoo or Bing? You get Hillary Indictment which actually IS trending according to Google's own trends, which is what the autocomplete is SUPPOSEDLY based on..

Oh and just FYI the former CEO of Google is on the advisory committee of HRC and making something like half a million a quarter for his services. If you think a guy whose political views are well known and who is actually working for one side isn't gonna tilt things in his favor? I have a bridge you might be interested in.

Re:Autocomplete blacklist? Oh, your aching fingers

[bane2571]

I get the following autocomplete results for "Hillary in":
Hillary Indictment
Hillary Indictment Odds
Hillary Instagram
Hillary Interview
Is it possible you've previously searched for Hillary India and it is replaying your search?

Re:Autocomplete blacklist? Oh, your aching fingers

[ShaunC]

Google is very happy to suggest "Hillary indictment" to me, with generally right-wing sites among the top results.