How Google Alters Search Results After Scandals and Tragedies

After the Parkland shooting, Google banned American users from searching for firearms. Here’s how the service has censored or changed search results worldwide following scandals and tragedies, and why not everyone trusts Google.

Why Do People Distrust Google?

Google has repeatedly faced accusations of search engine bias. In February 2017, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) fined the company $21.17 million for using its search engine to unfairly promote its own resources and partner organizations. In 2017, Google received a $2.7 billion fine from the European Commission for similar practices.

In spring 2015, researchers from Carnegie Mellon University and the International Computer Science Institute suspected Google of gender discrimination. They found that the company showed men targeted ads for higher-paying jobs more often than women.

In November 2016, researchers from CanIRank.com discovered that Google’s search engine favored links to “neutral” and “liberal” sources. In December 2015, University of Maryland scientists found that when searching for U.S. presidential candidates, Google returned more results for Democratic candidates than for Republicans.

The news organization SourceFed claimed that Google hid negative autocomplete suggestions for Hillary Clinton but not for Donald Trump. Google denies these accusations, stating that search results are generated by “machine algorithms that consider hundreds of factors.” According to Google, search results “reflect the content and information available on the internet.”

People Trust Search Engines More Than Journalists

Besides bias, Google is also accused of spreading false information. In July 2017, the American News Media Alliance asked the U.S. Congress to allow collective negotiations with Google and Facebook. The services were accused of creating a “digital duopoly” in online advertising, lowering news quality standards, and spreading fake news.

According to Eidelman, 63% of Americans trust search engines as sources of news and information, compared to only 44% who trust journalists.

How Has Google Removed Information from Search and Other Services?

In December 2016, Google disabled autocomplete suggestions for the word “Holocaust” after accusations from The Guardian. Previously, typing “did the hol” would prompt “did the holocaust happen” as the first suggestion. Google disabled Holocaust-related autocompletes in the U.S., but not in Europe.

Google’s search engine also listed a Holocaust denial site among the top results.

In August 2017, Google-owned YouTube began demoting “controversial” videos. While these videos didn’t violate site rules, they could be considered religious or racial propaganda. Such videos could no longer be commented on or liked. Google did not specify which videos were affected. Around the same time, Google, among others, withdrew hosting from the American neo-Nazi site The Daily Stormer, forcing it to move to the dark web.

In July 2015, the Google Photos app automatically tagged two Black users as “gorillas.” The company apologized. In January 2018, Wired journalists discovered that instead of fixing the algorithm, Google simply banned Google Photos from tagging images with any monkey-related terms—making such images unsearchable—to prevent the program from accidentally tagging people with dark skin again.

In January 2018, Google prohibited its voice assistant, Google Assistant, from answering religious questions. The company explained that the assistant reads out search results, which may contain spam or offensive content. To avoid awkward situations, Google temporarily disabled the Assistant’s ability to answer any religious questions, including those about Jesus or Buddha.

After the Parkland school shooting in Florida, Google Shopping stopped returning search results for any queries containing the word “gun” or its synonyms in the U.S. This ban also affected unrelated products, such as songs by the bands Sex Pistols and Guns N’ Roses. Google Shopping also removed ads for the AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, which was used by Nikolas Cruz to kill 17 people in Parkland.