Why Google Was A Regular Visitor At The Obama White House

[Hondo69]

Google is coming after critics in academia and journalism. It’s time to stop them.

Washington Post Editorial - by Zephyr Teachout (associate professor of law at Fordham University)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2017/08/30/zephyr-teachout-google-is-coming-after-critics-in-academia-and-journalism-its-time-to-stop-them/?utm_term=.22f6e6906279

It is time to call out Google for what it is: a monopolist in search, video, maps and browser, and a thin-skinned tyrant when it comes to ideas.

The imperial overreach of Google in trying to shut down a group of five researchers proves the point that the initial release from Open Markets was trying to make: When companies get too much power, they become a threat to democratic free speech and to the liberty of citizens at large.

Google is forming into a government of itself, and it seems incapable of even seeing its own overreach.

[goatprairie]

I'm sure all good libs will be on board with breaking up Google.  Remember Teddy Roosevelt breaking up trusts and all the libs in those times railing against monopolies.
The amount of money Google makes is no concern to me.  But when enterprises conspire to shut down free speech, then it does concern me.
What happens if Google decides it doesn't want any conservative web sites?  Some people will say because Google is a private entity, it can do whatever it likes.
But it is also an enterprise that is involved with the distribution of news, information, i.e. free speech.
The internet is not the same thing as the airwaves. But maybe it should be.  I listen to conservative talk shows on the internet because I cannot tune my radios where I am to get decent reception on the radio. 
If Google and other search engines decided they'll only allow liberal or leftist websites, are conservatives being denied their right to free expression of ideas?
This might go all the way to the SC.

[jmyrlefuller]

I'm sure all good libs will be on board with breaking up Google.  Remember Teddy Roosevelt breaking up trusts and all the libs in those times railing against monopolies.
The amount of money Google makes is no concern to me.  But when enterprises conspire to shut down free speech, then it does concern me.
What happens if Google decides it doesn't want any conservative web sites?  Some people will say because Google is a private entity, it can do whatever it likes.
But it is also an enterprise that is involved with the distribution of news, information, i.e. free speech.
The internet is not the same thing as the airwaves. But maybe it should be.  I listen to conservative talk shows on the internet because I cannot tune my radios where I am to get decent reception on the radio. 
If Google and other search engines decided they'll only allow liberal or leftist websites, are conservatives being denied their right to free expression of ideas?
This might go all the way to the SC.

That's where antitrust law comes in. Normally, one would be free to choose another search engine for such purposes, but if Google has forced out and marginalized its competitors and created a de facto monopoly, you end up with a corporatocracy.

[Oceander]

It may be time to consider applying the antitrust laws to Google. 

[Hondo69]

I don't think anyone will deny Google is very, very liberal.  At least not with a straight face.

We know without a doubt that Google juggles news stories such that the conservative viewpoint struggles to get through.  And we know the page ranking of websites in general is a process Google juggles on a regular basis, but the right leaning sites don't seem to get an even shake.

It's not like a public library where you walk in and seek out information as you please.  It's more like a library where Row 10 is only open 2 hours a week on Sunday evenings, and the only newspapers on display are left leaning fish wraps.

As we saw during the election Google played favorites with the candidates.  Is that tampering with an election?

[InHeavenThereIsNoBeer]

I despise Alphabet (Google), I suspect they are thoroughly evil (the potential is certainly there to do great evil), and I wish people would stop supporting them.

But they are not a monopoly, as the excerpt states, in any industry I'm aware of.

[Hondo69]

Yes, Google Uses Its Power to Quash Ideas It Doesn’t Like—I Know Because It Happened to Me
http://gizmodo.com/yes-google-uses-its-power-to-quash-ideas-it-doesn-t-li-1798646437?rev=1504134979112

----

It is true Google does not hold a monopoly.  I use DuckDuckGo for searching but there are others such as Bing.

Website builders utilize tools called SEO to make them search engine optimized.  However, it doesn't matter how optimized you make your site when it comes to Google because they constantly scramble search results.  A site that ranks on Page 1 of Google today won't rank high tomorrow due to this scrambling.  If you want to temper this high to low bobbing of "organic" search results there is only one method to do so - advertise with Google.

Which of course is how they make their money.  Supporters of Google say making tons of money is a good thing because it allows them to give us "free" features such as Google Maps that include satellite imagery you may toggle on or off.  In their eyes it is a trade-off that just comes with the territory.

However, advertising with Google is like throwing money at an idea and hoping some of it sticks.  If you search for Golf Shoes online you might visit several sites before making your purchase.  After you make your purchase you can expect to see ads for Golf Shoes for several weeks thereafter, long after the critical date of purchase.  Those paying for those ads are wasting their money.  But it should be noted this is true with most forms of advertising, if you can achieve a 2% click through rate you can consider yourself doing well.

So, from a purely advertising point of view Google is no different than running an ad in a magazine or on TV.  The rate of return is a very small number.  It's only when you dig deeper, beyond the surface level, do Google's search/advertising practices start to get really spooky.

[jmyrlefuller]

Related thread:
http://www.gopbriefingroom.com/index.php/topic,279345.msg1439337.html