Google Fact Check: Censorship, Manipulation or Protection from Lies?
In its blog, the search giant Google announced the global launch of a mechanism for checking news on fakes and stuffing, so the output of the search results will immediately be supplied with an assessment, which can vary from True to False with intermediate options.
In the explanation to this innovation, the corporation indicates that the reason for its appearance was the presidential campaign in the USA in 2016, during which the network was flooded with fakes of all colors, shapes and colors.
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The media giant said it would not check the news itself, giving the case to outsource to a certain “international reporter community”, which includes 115 active organizations around the world (and not one in the territory of the Russian Federation). This means that these organizations will evaluate the veracity of the search results displayed to users and inform about this directly in the list of search results, without bothering the user with independent checks, searching for sources and comparing opinions.
This is a very dangerous practice, which in the future will make it possible to more effectively manipulate public opinion through one-sided assessments of complex events. For example, with regards to the conflict in Ukraine, 4 Ukrainian organizations, including active participants in the information war stopfake.org opposed to 0 such organizations in Russia, are on the list of Google-approved “facts verifiers”, which automatically makes the pro-Ukrainian position on any situation in the conflict zone true , and pro-Russian - a lie.
The same picture applies to the conflict in South Ossetia in 2008 - now the Georgian organization, funded (judging by the description) by European funds and the US Embassy in Georgia, will check the search results on this issue.
What is the role of innovation in the formation of a managed public opinion? In my opinion, it is no less than the Wikipedia-protected articles on controversial historical issues with controversial collections of selected sources. The position of search neutrality has been subject to correction for a long time until it finally came to its current incarnation - a direct impact on the end user through ready-made assessments under the auspices of the huge authority of the search giant.
In the explanation to this innovation, the corporation indicates that the reason for its appearance was the presidential campaign in the USA in 2016, during which the network was flooded with fakes of all colors, shapes and colors.
')
The media giant said it would not check the news itself, giving the case to outsource to a certain “international reporter community”, which includes 115 active organizations around the world (and not one in the territory of the Russian Federation). This means that these organizations will evaluate the veracity of the search results displayed to users and inform about this directly in the list of search results, without bothering the user with independent checks, searching for sources and comparing opinions.
This is a very dangerous practice, which in the future will make it possible to more effectively manipulate public opinion through one-sided assessments of complex events. For example, with regards to the conflict in Ukraine, 4 Ukrainian organizations, including active participants in the information war stopfake.org opposed to 0 such organizations in Russia, are on the list of Google-approved “facts verifiers”, which automatically makes the pro-Ukrainian position on any situation in the conflict zone true , and pro-Russian - a lie.
The same picture applies to the conflict in South Ossetia in 2008 - now the Georgian organization, funded (judging by the description) by European funds and the US Embassy in Georgia, will check the search results on this issue.
What is the role of innovation in the formation of a managed public opinion? In my opinion, it is no less than the Wikipedia-protected articles on controversial historical issues with controversial collections of selected sources. The position of search neutrality has been subject to correction for a long time until it finally came to its current incarnation - a direct impact on the end user through ready-made assessments under the auspices of the huge authority of the search giant.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/402973/
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