Slashdot Mirror
Trump Accuses Google of Rigging Search Results To Favor 'Bad' News About Him (cnet.com)
President Donald Trump says Google search results for "Trump News" show only negative coverage about him. From a report: The results present "only the viewing/reporting of Fake New (sic) Media," the president tweeted early Tuesday. He said it's a "very serious situation" that "will be addressed!" "In other words, they have it RIGGED, for me & others, so that almost all stories & news is BAD. Fake CNN is prominent. Republican/Conservative & Fair Media is shut out. Illegal? 96% of ... " he wrote in the first of two tweets at 5:24 a.m. ET. Update: White House probes Google after Trump accuses it of bias.
Seeing as 96 percent of google search results about Trump come from liberal media outlets
You may wish to rethink you naive view of this.
If you apply some critical thinking then the results make sense. You have most of the entire English literate world using Google, not just the US. Very few outside the US think US conservative media outlets are reputable and therefore avoid them. Google ranking is a convoluted feedback loop so you inevitably are going to end up with results people look at which aren't US conservative media outlets.
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
There are a lot of reasons this can happen. Google ranks pages higher when they are shared / linked to more often. Google is not "neutral" in the fact that they let more popular pages rise to the top. Not being neutral in that respect is what made them what they are vs. search engines that only rank on keywords - it weeds out spam. But not being neutral is not the same as intentional bias.
Re-posting a link to a conservative news source is not a refutation. They told you what trends in worldwide traffic might be driving the popularity of less conservative news sources and this is not an argument against that.
That would be the problem with people at the political extremes. They are so far to their own side that everything else looks far left or far right by comparison.
I think that these people tend to be the noisiest as well, which makes those extremes appear far larger or more important than they really are.
Bias is simple, and doesn't require any conspiracy.
Just because you don't agree with something doesn't mean it is bias. Believing all news sources are biased against you is indistinguishable from believing in a conspiracy. The simple explanation here is just that Trump doesn't like news that isn't flattering to him and that there is a LOT of factual news that makes him objectively look bad. His own behavior is the simplest explanation, not bias. Some people like his behavior - many many more do not. Ergo a lot of of news isn't favorable to Trump.
Google's search results are also influenced by how many other sites link to a given article. Theory being that well linked articles are considered good by other people. When offering up evidence people tend to link to sources with a reputation for impartiality (aka "extreme far left bias").
Google weights links from less reputable sites lower too, so all those blogs and forum links don't really help Trump supporting sites.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Look, we aren't blind and deaf. When we see/hear stupid stuff like fox news comparing Denmark and Venezuela, or even many other completely ridiculous pretension like part of london being muslim only, and I pass many other, not even counting you have theblaze as conservative media we come to our conclusion alone why fox news is called faux news. You don't like it ? Then ask your conservative media to have a fact based reporting , rather than wishful thinking reporting.
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
visit randi.org
Yet... Trump's tweet has achieved its goal.
Up until his tweet today, Google's first page of results for 'Trump News' did indeed return 'only the viewing/reporting of Fake New Media.'
But since Trump's tweet that crucial first page is now 100% news about his tweet, replacing the voice of the news with noise from Trump.
"Very few outside the US think US conservative media outlets are reputable"
And one significant reason for this is the relentless and universal portrayal of US conservative media outlets as disreputable by the US Leftist media.
Sorry, but no. By European standards, Fox News is a conspiracy theorist right-wing tabloid. Pretty much every Fox News opinion host is perceived as a populist, fear-mongering, right-wing extremist. We form this opinion based on our own cognitive abilities and critical thinking skills - no "leftist media" required.
So if reality has a liberal bias then GMOs are the devil, vaccines cause autism and there are no biological differences between males and females? Oh, and a new one I found out yesterday is that apparently race isn't based on biology either.
Idiot.
There are certainly falsehoods believed by groups on both sides of the political spectrum, and in the recent past it could be argued the crazies on both sides were fairly equal. But unfortunately today the far right has went so far off the deep end there is no comparison. Lets look at some of your examples.
Liberals do tend to have unfounded anti-GMO biases, which while misguided are still based on some solid scientific concerns. Compare that to Conservatives and their antagonistic views on global climate change, which go against an effectively unanimous backing from the scientific community.
Anti-vaccination concerns started out with a tiny section of liberals, but today these concerns are roughly equally shared by the far left and far right. Even here, one side is merely anti-corporation where the other is more generally anti-science. Both are misguided, but the far right is driven as usual from its anti-intellectual beliefs.
No liberals I have ever read about believe there are no biological differences between men and women. They simply follow the research which shows biology is not a prime driver of gender inequities in our society. Compare that to conservatives who still believe gender is a binary condition, and the far right is clearly less educated in their beliefs here as well.
-- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke
Yup, left wing media constantly smears Trump
It is completely impossible for anyone to smear Trump more than his own tweets and speeches.
That would be the problem with people at the political extremes. They are so far to their own side that everything else looks far left or far right by comparison.
I think that these people tend to be the noisiest as well, which makes those extremes appear far larger or more important than they really are.
That is indeed a huge issue nobody in the US except a very few seem to acknowledge. Conservatism and traditional values in the US have gone to shit.
The US had a conservative president who embodied traditional values. He was a married, religious family man from the middle-class with a spotless political career and social engagement, he reached out to the opposition party to move forward on bipartisan issues... but conservatives hated him because he was a Democrat and he was black.
Now the US has a "conservative" president who was divorced two times, he did not serve in the military or a political career, has had various affairs with porn stars and models, grew up as an entitled rich-kid, frequently disrespects women with sexually charged commentary and is so self-centered that he spends most of his days checking what people are saying about him on the news... but conservatives love him because.... I don't know. He's as morally depraved as they are?
There was time of real Republican conservatism as embodied by the likes of senator John McCain. This conservatism cared about the middle-class and lower incomes, about traditional family values and also about international alliances, fairness towards partners, the rule of law, honoring treaties and also listening to facts and reason.
That Republican party is no more. It has been hijacked by the right-wing populists who push agendas and fake news (all the while accusing their opponents of doing exactly that in attempt to muddle the minds by pulling everyone else to their low standards). It has solemnly sacrificed logic, reason and the traditional values for some kind of modern, right-wing dadaism that rejects all social norms and values.
The current president and his favorite news channel (Fox) embodies this state that conservatism has morphed into, perfectly.
What I don't understand is, why nobody in conservative America is standing up to all of this bullshit. John McCain was, and now he's dead.
Wait, are you saying McCain was given cancer because he stood up to this bullshit!?! That makes so much sense!!!
No, what I'm saying is, that if, figuratively speaking, traditional conservative values were an Eastern Algonquian Native American tribe, John McCain was the last of the Mohicans.
All I said is: bias is simple.
Bias is simple but Trump's behavior and dislike of unflattering news that results from it is a proven fact. Occam's razor only applies when it isn't clear what the answer is between two choices. While there are clearly a minority of news sources that are biased against (and for) Trump, many more are simply accurately relaying facts without any significant bias for or against. The fact that these facts make Trump look like an asshat is a second order effect. There is a reason his approval ratings are generally historically low - the majority of people don't approve of his actions and it should surprise no one that the news reflects that disapproval.
Trump behaves like asshat = news reports asshattery is a FAR simpler explanation than assuming widespread and universally negative bias against Trump by google and news organizations.
Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is a personality disorder with a long-term pattern of abnormal behavior characterized by exaggerated feelings of self-importance, an excessive need for admiration, and a lack of empathy. Those affected often spend a lot of time thinking about achieving power or success, or on their appearance. They often take advantage of the people around them.
...
...
Self-confidence (a strong sense of self) is different from narcissistic personality disorder; people with NPD typically value themselves over others to the extent that they openly disregard the feelings and wishes of others, and expect to be treated as superior, regardless of their actual status or achievements. Moreover, the person with narcissistic personality disorder usually exhibits a fragile ego (self-concept), intolerance of criticism, and a tendency to belittle others in order to validate their own superiority.
The DSM-5 indicates that persons with NPD usually display some or all of the following symptoms, typically without the commensurate qualities or accomplishments:
1) Grandiosity with expectations of superior treatment from other people
2) Fixated on fantasies of power, success, intelligence, attractiveness, etc.
3) Self-perception of being unique, superior, and associated with high-status people and institutions
4) Needing continual admiration from others
5) Sense of entitlement to special treatment and to obedience from others
6) Exploitative of others to achieve personal gain
7) Unwilling to empathize with the feelings, wishes, and needs of other people
8) Intensely envious of others, and the belief that others are equally envious of them
9) Pompous and arrogant demeanor
Trump benefits from hostile mainstream news
I see very little "hostile" trump news on the google news front page. If you want that, you have to go to twitter feeds and the like. What you apparently mistake for hostile news is actually horrified news, in reaction to the horrific actions of a horrible person.
One thing is clear: today's "google news is fake news" trump troll is just a brazen attempt to switch the focus away from John McCain and back to him. Same with yesterday's fake trade deal. Sigh, this week is going to be along week from trump. Expect another troll tomorrow morning.
When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.