Google adjusts autocomplete suggestions because people are incapable of critical thinking
Take off your tinfoil hats, please.
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People (including Donald Trump) have long said that Google shows bias in search results, even if those claims are unfounded. Now, ahead of the 2020 presidential election, Google is coming out again to say that no, search results aren’t biased and that it will be making extra effort to show that.
With so much misinformation swarming around the election, mail-in voting, and more, Google is making it clear that it has no intention of influencing election search results. In a new blog post, Google outlines some of the steps it is taking to ensure that.
In the post, Pandu Nayak Google Fellow and Vice President of Search, notes that Google has expanded its autocomplete policies related to the elections and that Google will “remove predictions that could be interpreted as claims for or against any candidate or political party.” This includes “statements about voting methods, requirements, or the status of voting locations—or the integrity or legitimacy of electoral processes, such as the security of the election.”
For example, Google’s autocompleting feature will not try to suggest searches that start with “donate to” and “you can/can’t vote by phone.”
You can obviously still search these things and sort through results on your own, Google will just no longer hold your hand on suggestions.
The blog post also highlights updates to Google’s new Intelligence Desk, which will be used to highlight “potential information threats,” and updates that help serve breaking news in search results quicker. Make sure to check out the blog post if you are interested in learning more about these systems.
What do you think? Do you think Google is biased when it comes to search results? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.
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