{"id":109764,"date":"2018-04-23T12:00:40","date_gmt":"2018-04-23T11:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=109764"},"modified":"2018-04-22T12:54:23","modified_gmt":"2018-04-22T11:54:23","slug":"googles-delisting-and-censorship-of-information","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2018\/04\/googles-delisting-and-censorship-of-information\/","title":{"rendered":"Google\u2019s Delisting and Censorship of Information"},"content":{"rendered":"

20 Apr 2018 – <\/em>In early January, numerous websites discovered that they were suddenly removed from the directory of Google News<\/a>, a process known as \u201cdelisting,\u201d with no feedback from Google. Some hypothesized that the removal of smaller news sites could be ascribed to the latest SEO changes<\/a>. \u00a0 Then on 8 January, Google reported that it was ready to rectify its \u201cmistake\u201d and restore the pages by of these smaller new sites. The vast majority were not restored.\u00a0 Still, a large number news sites have been abandoned and editors have been making updates daily since January on Google\u2019s ProductForum<\/a> with many users still noting, even this week, of ongoing problems.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The delistings have ostensibly occurred\u00a0because of violations of Google\u2019s\u00a0rules<\/a> which have been constantly changing and causing upheaval for smaller news sites to keep up with the changes.\u00a0 However, many smaller media sites are quite skeptical given that several of Google\u2019s updates on the situation that did not square with what larger news companies were being told.\u00a0 And some, in fact, only found out recently that they had been delisted months earlier.<\/p>\n

Regardless of the reasons, Google\u2019s alterations in recalibrating search algorithms<\/a> for quality improvement, advanced trading algorithms for its Cloud Platform<\/a>,\u00a0 and even ongoing issues with the algorithm for Street View<\/a>, Google maintains tremendous influence in shaping and making intelligible databases of news and information, effectively being the medium through which news stories are found. The recent delistings have affected many independent news websites such as that of Yale Global<\/a>, Yale University\u2019s site dedicated to special reports and news on globalization,\u00a0 IN.com<\/a>, an Indian-based news site, and A Reda\u00e7\u00e3o<\/a>, an independent Brazilian news site.<\/p>\n

When Google\u2019s infrastructure fails or system updates result in incorrect information being disseminated throughout the Inter-Web, human lives can be vastly and negatively affected.\u00a0 Upon closer examination of these delistings, it becomes manifestly obvious that Google wields far too much control over our lives and the of sustainability of smaller media sites.\u00a0 When one studies the long list of enterprises affected, the range of information being limited is profound even outside of general independent news sites. There is also a huge sector of specialty news sites which have been undercut by these delisting, such as news related to: investment<\/a>, data management<\/a>, loan companies<\/a>, and sports<\/a>.\u00a0 Add to this the recent implementation of the \u201cright to be forgotten<\/a>\u201d in England and Wales which was decided this past week.\u00a0 Fundamentally, we need to question the hyper-centralization of all media agencies, the visibility and accessibility is completely controlled by one very powerful corporation.<\/p>\n

Since last Fall, Google has been criticized for what many deem to be its monopoly of free speech<\/a> since it is a company which is considered extremely powerful, even more herculean than most countries on the planet.\u00a0 While Google claims to be supportive of \u201cfree speech,\u201d what Google is not saying is that it is only supportive of the free-speech which it approves.<\/em><\/p>\n

In a 2016 legal challenge to Google, a Florida federal court reached\u00a0some interesting conclusions<\/a>\u00a0in a lawsuit filed by e-ventures.\u00a0 The court ruled that Google had legally overstepped in delisting many of its links. Google defended itself, citing\u00a0 Section 230, the \u201cGood Samaritan\u201d clause which states no third-party company can be found liable for actions it takes to remove content it finds questionable.\u00a0 Google also cited the First Amendment. The court disagreed<\/a> with both of Google\u2019s arguments.<\/p>\n

Google has also exercised control over YouTube, which is is owned by Google, and it has also been charged with censoring videos by numerous users.\u00a0 In 2017, Jordan Peterson, Canadian professor and controversial figure in the free speech movement, was\u00a0temporarily blocked from YouTube.\u00a0 \u00a0 In October 2017, Google finally conceded that YouTube had been censoring<\/a> conservative voices after Dennis Prager<\/a>, a conservative talk radio figure, filed a lawsuit against YouTube which was recently dismissed.<\/p>\n

In response to accusations that Google has censored conservative voices, it has in recent months been surveilling<\/a> how various leftist news sites are treated.\u00a0 But Google is not alone in this crackdown.\u00a0 Facebook has likewise been accused of having policies that permit the proliferation of fake news and\u00a0 Facebook has likewise been accused of helping Donald Trump to his presidential victory.\u00a0 This theory stems from the fact that in the weeks leading up to the US elections in 2016, the Trump campaign<\/a> invested approximately $150m in Facebook advertisement.<\/p>\n

With regard to the EU ruling<\/a> last June on Google\u2019s violation of anti-competitive law, it is incumbent upon Google to hold a public debate about its place in the world. And for those of us concerned about the transparent access to information that is unfettered, we must consider\u00a0 if Google, along with other corporate heavyweights, is unfair to smaller new sites and especially unsafe for democracy.\u00a0 Having had catchphrase which was once \u201cDon\u2019t be evil\u201d and today is \u201cDo the right thing,\u201d Google is failing pitifully at both.<\/p>\n

__________________________________________<\/p>\n

Julian Vigo<\/em>\u00a0is a scholar, film-maker and human rights consultant. Her latest book is\u00a0<\/em>Earthquake in Haiti: The Pornography of Poverty and the Politics of Development<\/a>\u00a0(2015).\u00a0She can be reached at:\u00a0julian.vigo@gmail.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 counterpunch.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

20 Apr 2018 – In early January, numerous websites discovered that they were suddenly removed from the directory of Google News, a process known as \u201cdelisting.\u201d Google has been criticized for its monopoly of free speech since it is a company extremely powerful, even more herculean than most countries on the planet. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":109765,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-109764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109764\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}