WHY IS GOOGLE CENSORING MY SEARCHES

WHY IS GOOGLE CENSORING MY SEARCHES

We all have been in the situation where we’ve been frantically searching the internet for confirmation of thought or opinion we’ve shared. We’re both guilty of confirmation bias, but it’s not biased if you can find credible sources to back up the statements you’ve accepted… until you can’t anymore.

Under these situations, the mature thing to do is to confess your mistake or investigate the legitimacy of alternative views. Alternatively, you should scream to the heavens, “Why does Google censor the truth?!!”

• Is it true that Google censors “the facts,” and why would they prohibit such material in the first place?

Alphabet, the corporation that owns Google, has 118,899 full-time workers who work on several projects. All of them are technological and professional developers since Google’s strong point has always been its free-to-use software, such as the Chrome Browser, Chrome OS, Android OS, Google products, YouTube, and, of course, its ridiculously popular search engine.

PageRank is the search algorithm used by Google. The keyword here is the algorithm: it is difficult for a team of 118,899 people to manually censor individual news articles and content that is continuously reported and disseminated on the internet. In reality, Google performs 100 billion searches per month, which is a staggering figure.

To comprehend how Google “censors” such content, one must first comprehend how its algorithm operates.

How the Stuff Works does an excellent job of summarising the extremely complicated process, well we’ll leave it to them:

WHY IS GOOGLE CENSORING MY SEARCHES

“Google, like most search engines, employs automated systems such as spiders or crawlers to assist in the generation of search results. Google has a broad keyword database that it uses to evaluate search results.”

“What distinguishes Google is how it lists its results, which decides the order in which results appear on Google’s search engine results pages. Google employs a proprietary algorithm known as PageRank to allocate a relevancy score to each web page.”

PageRank employs several common criteria to “weight” a search result’s significance and maximise the likelihood of it appearing in the results. There are three “principles” to follow:

1. “Keyword frequency and placement on the home page: If a keyword occurs just once in the body of a page, it will earn a low keyword ranking.”
2. “How long has the website been up and running: Every day, new web pages are created, and not all of them last long. Google gives a greater weight to sites that have a long history.”

The third point, however, is perhaps the most important:

1. “The number of other websites that connect to the page under consideration: To evaluate a site’s importance, Google examines how many web sites connect to it.”

This is since “because Google considers links to a web page as a ballot, it’s difficult to game the machine.”

• Is it true that Google “censors” such health-related information? The bar has allegedly been set “really high.”

Several websites and internet services have taken a proactive stand against the spread of anti-vaccination content, including GoFundMe, Amazon, Google, and several other large companies, which have stifled anti-vaxxing sentiment on their platforms. OptimistPrime, a Google forum regular, explains how health-related search results are weighted more stringently than other web sites.

In response to a question about the “censorship” of Google content, OptimistPrime replied, “No censorship, if you want to find anything unsavoury, you can always find it in search.” However, when it comes to something health-related, the standard is set very high due to market danger. This means that sites that provide health advice must follow much tighter conditions for inclusion in top search results than almost any other subject.”

Google has been accused of “censoring” its searches in countries such as China and Iran, where it has complied with several demands (reportedly half) to conform with local rules. The Mountain Valley corporation has been chastised for “caving in” to the regimes of these nations. After 2010, Google services have been prohibited in China.

WHY IS GOOGLE CENSORING MY SEARCHES. Google’s app products and features are still restricted in several Arab countries. Pakistan, the Netherlands, Australia, Thailand, China, Japan, Argentina, Canada, Spain, Israel, Italy, South Korea, France, Germany, Britain, India, the United States, Turkey, and Russia are among the countries that have asked the Big G to block the most material. The latter leads the pack, citing national security as the primary justification for the ban requests.

Some countries have cited national security, anonymity, slander, theft, abuse, religious offences, and political criticism as the primary reasons for excluding such material.

 

• DUCKDUCKGO VS GOOGLE: WHAT’S BETTER

DUCKDUCKGO VS GOOGLE 1: DuckDuckGo safeguards your privacy.

of the most appealing features of DuckDuckGo is that it protects your privacy while you browse. DuckDuckGo does not keep or collect any of your user information or search history. They cannot detect or trace your quest because they do not store your records. Since your records and search history are not collected, your keywords cannot be used for data profiles, ad monitoring, or civil subpoenas. It enables you to dig for information anonymously without fear of being watched.

DUCKDUCKGO VS GOOGLE 2: Google follows you everywhere you go.

WHY IS GOOGLE CENSORING MY SEARCHES. Google watches you not only on their search engine, but also on Gmail, YouTube, your Android phone, Google Chrome, Google Maps, and most of Google’s other applications. They use this information to influence your search results and to serve you advertisements. Google dominates the advertisement market due to the amount of data it stores and the number of websites that use its products.

DUCKDUCKGO VS GOOGLE 3: Google filters the results of the searches.

When you use Google, you will believe you are getting the same search results as anyone else. If you do the same search in an incognito browser, you might be shocked by how different the results are. Google customises your search results based on your search background. This means that you are not getting any of the reports, but rather those that Google believes you want to see.

DUCKDUCKGO VS GOOGLE 4: Google is heavily reliant on advertisements.

Ads abound in Google’s search pages. They find organic traffic to websites that rate well for competitive keywords challenging. This is particularly problematic on mobile browsers. The majority of the results are advertisements. Businesses and website owners who wish to be found on Google will pay up to $60 per click (or more) to get these ads placed. This makes competing with website owners and small businesses almost impossible. They don’t want users to search the site organically in Google; instead, they want you to spend money on ads.

DUCKDUCKGO VS GOOGLE 5: Google search engine rating factors favour popular sites

This may seem counterintuitive to others, but if you’re searching for the best information that’s important to your search demand, discovering the most popular platform may not always take you to the best, most relevant content. A blog that receives a lot of direct traffic would rank higher in Google than a less popular site. When I’m looking for something, I want to go to the place that has the best response. It is not necessarily the most popular website that receives the most visits.

DUCKDUCKGO VS GOOGLE 6: Google prefers large corporations over independent businesses.

WHY IS GOOGLE CENSORING MY SEARCHES. Without going into the nitty-gritty of how search engines function, Google used to be a lot easier to optimise with. They have made significant changes to their algorithm over the years, and for a website or small company to rank well, they may end up spending $700-1000 per month on SEO services. To rank well in Google, you must spend a lot of money. Small companies are at a significant disadvantage because Google prefers large corporations.

DuckDuckGo employs several rating factors, and optimising a website for DuckDuckGo is simpler for small companies. Some business owners may prefer the ability to buy their way to the top, but I prefer DuckDuckGo’s findings because they are more natural and less influenced by SEO firms and Google.

DUCKDUCKGO VS GOOGLE 7: DuckDuckGo has objective data.

If you want to learn about a political subject, good luck finding impartial facts on Google. Google, for one, personalises the search results. When you do a scan, you will get answers that are skewed based on past searches.

Furthermore, Google filters political news in general. Most of the reasons alternative social media sites are gaining popularity are because of this. Certain keywords are almost unsearchable in Google. I couldn’t believe it when I first heard it. I assumed that certain keywords just did not perform as well in Google due to SEO, but Google is censoring the search results. To test this, do a Google search for a hot political subject, followed by a DuckDuckGo search.

DUCKDUCKGO VS GOOGLE 8: Google is acquiring the internet.

Google’s ads generate billions of dollars in revenue, and it owns the world’s largest search engine. Google accounts for 87 per cent of all searches. However, their search engine is not their only offering. Google offerings include their email services, cloud storage, Google’s G suite, calendar, Chromebooks, and Chrome browser. They have billions of dollars to deal with and are gaining control of every aspect of the internet.

Google manages and prefers its brands in search results. When you look for products on Google, you will see Google Store products in nearly every search result, whether they are the most popular product or not.

Yelp, a website that offers user feedback and companies, claims that Google manipulates search results to favour their brands. They are not the only ones who have accused Google of unfair competition.

DUCKDUCKGO VS GOOGLE 9: Google is just too big.

DuckDuckGo is the answer to the search engine market’s lack of competition. Google had a monopoly on the search engine industry. No other search engine also comes close to Google in terms of search volume. It is past time for a fresh, consumer-focused, equal, and impartial search engine to enter the fray.

• DUCKDUCKGO VS GOOGLE: DUCKDUCKGO GOOGLE

DuckDuckGo, a privacy-focused search engine, has criticised Google’s efforts to introduce an alternative to third-party browser cookies, which have permitted marketers to monitor web users’ activity for years.

The corporation also announced that it would ban Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC), the planned alternative, through its search engine and Chrome browser extension.

The DuckDuckGo search engine will immediately disable FLoC features, while an upgrade to the browser extension will enable users to opt-out manually. The extension update, however, is currently being reviewed by Google, which vets all recent updates to the Chrome Web Store.

• DUCKDUCKGO VS GOOGLE: DUCKDUCKGO REDDIT

The duckduckgo subreddit community says:

“We’re the Internet protection firm for anybody who’s had enough of covert web surveillance and needs to reclaim their privacy right away. For more than a decade, we’ve developed products, developed advanced technologies, and collaborated with politicians to make online privacy easy and open to all. Millions of people depend on our free all-in-one solution to keep private online every day.”

• DUCKDUCKGO VS GOOGLE: CONCLUSION

So, when it comes to deciding between DuckDuckGo and Google as the superior Search Engine, it all comes down to personal choice.

If your anonymity is important to you and you want to remain anonymous when browsing the Internet. Then DuckDuckGo is your best choice.

But on the other hand, you don’t mind if Google uses your personal information for advertising or search filtration purposes. Then Google is the place to be.

Google offers a wide range of features and products, which is why it is the most common search engine.

So, we hope you enjoyed our article on Duckduckgo vs Google.

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Author Bio

Nancy Richard has completed her M.sc degree in “Human Psychology” from a reputed university.  Get the Sample of the ABD703 assessment answers 

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