Google's "explanations" are a complete joke. https://t.co/nluR7FtC1c
— Paul Epps (@paulepps) August 7, 2024
Google’s “explanation” for this is a complete joke as is their “explanation” for why searching for “Donald Trump” brings up information about Kamala Harris.
Software engineers have always called software errors “bugs,” because if you call something an error, it implies that someone is responsible for making the error, whereas if you call something a bug, it sounds like it’s nobody’s fault, really, just something that crawled in there of its own volition, like a cockroach in your kitchen.
You could also use the word “bug” for something that was not an error at all. You did it on purpose but got caught out and need to disavow it. That’s what Google is doing here.
This seems very important to me. It’s not good at all and here’s why: Google has become synonymous with online search. No one says, “You should look that up on the internet.” They say, “You should Google that.”
And as a result, Google wields immense power over how people see the world. If Google doesn’t want people to think too much about the attempted assassination of a former president, oops, it doesn’t come up in autocomplete. If Google prefers Candidate X to Candidate Y, “bugs” cause information about Candidate X to be displayed in response to a search for Candidate Y. It’s a brainwashing operation.
I’d like to see something done about this. I don’t know what can be done or who can do it, but I was glad this week to see Google on the losing end of a landmark antitrust suit, so maybe there is hope.