🐱 Trump administration 'taking a look' at regulating Google

http://thehill.com/policy/technolog...nistration-taking-a-look-at-regulating-google


White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow on Tuesday said that the administration is “taking a look” at potentially regulating Google, following President Trump’s tweets criticizing the search giant.

Trump tweeted on Tuesday morning that Google search results for “Trump News” showed results for “only the viewing/reporting of Fake New Media," he wrote, referencing prominent news outlet CNN.



“Republican/Conservative & Fair Media is shut out,” Trump’s tweet read.
Kudlow's comments were in response to being pressed by reporters on if, in light of the president's comments, the administration is considering imposing regulations on Google.

In his tweets, Trump went on to accuse Google and other tech companies of being biased against conservatives, an increasingly common attack from Republicans.

“Google & others are suppressing voices of Conservatives and hiding information and news that is good. They are controlling what we can & cannot see. This is a very serious situation-will be addressed!” Trump tweeted.

Google shot back at the president's claims, refuting charges that it is biased against conservatives or any other political groups.

"When users type queries into the Google Search bar, our goal is to make sure they receive the most relevant answers in a matter of seconds," a Google spokesperson said in a statement.

"Search is not used to set a political agenda and we don't bias our results toward any political ideology," the statement continues. "Every year, we issue hundreds of improvements to our algorithms to ensure they surface high-quality content in response to users' queries. We continually work to improve Google Search and we never rank search results to manipulate political sentiment."

Trump joins high-profile Republicans like House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) in accusing technology companies of treating conservatives on their platforms unfairly.

With support from McCarthy, the House Energy and Commerce Committee is set to hold a hearing on the matter on Sept. 5, which Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is set to testify.

Dorsey will also testify during the Senate Intelligence Committee’s hearing that day on how foreign governments have run misinformation campaigns on American tech platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google Plus.

 

[mindlessobserver]

But imagine if MySpace somehow became a utility and got their friends in government to declare Facebook to be some sort of Russian troll farm that needed to be sunk for the good of the state.

I agree with this too. Which is why I find this whole mess annoying as all fuck. On the one hand, I want the Government off my internet and I want business to do what business does to get the money that business needs.

On the other hand I also want society to function. And this requires all parts of society to know their fucking place. Government exists to protect the rights and property of all under it's control. Business exists to make money for those invested in it, and the people are the intermediary between both. To profit and be profited from business, and to be protected and enabled by government.

So long as all factions stay in their lanes, and both business and government realize their existence is dependent on the citizenry. Either by their vote or what they choose to buy, then all is swell.

But I am also (to my chagrin) a Christian. And as such i have no choice but to recognize the evil of man. The need for power. Wealth. Control over gods garden. Historically, this avarice was advanced by those who sought control of government. As such, our institutions were designed to protect the people from the machinations of evil men who would use government power to evil ends.

Now? I am convinced government is not the greatest evil. The way to power now is through information and money. Because we have an elected government. The ones with money and information will rule. And the "rulers" will be their puppets.

In a way I need to thank the social justice idiots. The tards ripped the mask off Google, Facebook, and all the rest long before it could be done without notice.

Trump may be an orange Cheeto asshole. But he was elected. By the American people. This apparently is unacceptable to the companies of silicon valley. Fine. Corporations were granted personhood. So they can reap the whirlwind of this fact. Silicon valley wants to play the game of thrones with middle America. So let's play.

 

[Your Weird Fetish]

It's not that I think this behavior by these companies isn't evil. It's that I don't see any proposed solutions that don't just lead to even more harm being done.

 

[mindlessobserver]

It's not that I think this behavior by these companies isn't evil. It's that I don't see any proposed solutions that don't just lead to even more harm being done.

Guess I need to clarify. I am not proposing solutions. I am pointing out results. Nothing good will come of this. The government will however hammer silicon valley. Probably with long term repercussions for the rest of us.

They should have left Alex Jones alone. Even before the organised deplatforming, the current administration had expressed concern over shadow bans and outright censoring of conservative voices. The coordinated takedown of Jones was essentially a declaration of war. Nobody will benefit from this, but the Government will "win".

The Republicans have no choice. They may in principle support free market enterprise, but the tech companies have decided to align against them. We can argue all day about whether or not corporations have the right to make political positions. But what cannot be denied is the tech companies have staked a political position.

And the political position of silicon valley is that they are the enemy of the American Right, the Republican Party, and the ruling the administration. As a free market capitalist I support the right of these companies to put their wealth and industry where they feel it is most properly utilized. As a conservative and a Republican I also support the enactment of consequences for those choices.

 

[wellthathappened]

The US government therefore has no choice but to seize control. It cannot allow unelected third parties to dominate the political discourse. The government of the United States rules this land.

Guess I need to clarify. I am not proposing solutions.

 

[Linako 2.0]

The answer is basically no, because most of the internet is fucking trash.

not to mention that most of the internet now is major websites like Facebook, Youtube, Google, Reddit, Instagram and Twitter.
it's sad to think tht Forums and imageboards are starting to become a thing of the past.

 

[OwO What's This?]

Didn't someone at Google literally redefine the word 'racism' so it couldn't apply to white people?

 

[Keystone]

not to mention that most of the internet now is major websites like Facebook, Youtube, Google, Reddit, Instagram and Twitter.
it's sad to think tht Forums and imageboards are starting to become a thing of the past.

Yeah, but they'll always be around even if they do lose popularity. I mean consider the fact that fucking Geocities is still around after all this time. It's still a pretty big thing in Japan or so I hear.

 

[Corbin Dallas Multipass]

Wow, a lot of oversimplification of politics.

Conservatives are generally against what they consider "Too much" regulation. So are liberals. They have different definitions of "Too much". But I don't hear anyone saying we should have monopolies like standard oil controlling things.

The nurse's union is fighting right now against regulation in MA to do with overtime and staffing. Is the nurse's union right wing now because they oppose a regulation?

With the twitter thing, the person who was president used their private company's service to communicate to people, in the same way anyone else can use it. Sort of like if he called a chatline with his t-mobile cell phone and someone was just breathing heavily the whole time, so he blocked them. That's why it's ridiculous. There never has been a law about the official presidential twitter account, because twitter isn't part of the fucking government. I've never ever heard anything about the president's non-official, random conversations and utterances being all part of the public record, so people trying to act like this is totally normal aren't being honest.

Now personally, I think google's a private company, I don't see how they're a monopoly in that nothing they do prevents some other search engine from existing or becoming popular, to my knowledge. Just being good and recognized doesn't make you a monopoly. It's known that they manipulate their results, they admit it. They say they only do it to mitigate "google bombing" and stuff like that, but... do you honestly think none of that is open to interpretation at all? Or that maybe they wouldn't be honest? Doesn't google block some stuff they consider offensive?

Google doesn't have to bias the results themselves though. Twitter creates search results in google, just by virtue of having people tweet things. Twitter polices its content, and they obviously have their own bias. Facebook curates the news stories it promotes, which once again circles back to search results.

I don't see anything to regulate here. Not with google search at least. Trump administration members often have to say they're "looking into something" after he tweets some vague stupid thing, I expect this is another one of those things. I mean "potentially taking a look at maybe regulating google" after being pressed on it doesn't really sound like something they're really going after. Trump ran his mouth and his people are trying to do the best they can to prevent a mess.

 

[uncleShitHeel]

Android and YouTube and gmail would go away! Oh no!

Maybe I'm still operating on a Web 1.0 mindset, but I don't think Google is actually holding the internet hostage and saying all this shit will go away. You'll just have to use another engine to find it. Maybe Netscape could make a comeback and release a new Navigator.

Agreed. The internet has steadily gotten worse and nuking Google alongside most social media would fix that. There needs to be barrier to entry for this shit.

 

[Commander Keen]

Agreed. The internet has steadily gotten worse and nuking Google alongside most social media would fix that. There needs to be barrier to entry for this shit.

I dunno about a total barrier to entry, but you should have to make an effort and be willing to learn. Like when I was a kid and we had to navigate to find what we wanted and fight “script kiddies” at almost every turn.

 

[uncleShitHeel]

U

I dunno about a total barrier to entry, but you should have to make an effort and be willing to learn. Like when I was a kid and we had to navigate to find what we wanted and fight “script kiddies” at almost every turn.

Agree, that's ultimately what I mean by barrier to entry. If you want to use the information super highway, you have to prove that you're not complete retard.

Kind of like how my 14 year old cousin used to use little old 7 year old me to answer the trivia questions so she could play lounge lizard Larry.

 

[Slap47]

Didn't someone at Google literally redefine the word 'racism' so it couldn't apply to white people?

Basically every sjw does that with the "Power+Prejudice" thing.

Dunno what they say about light skinned South Africans, Jews, Gypsies, Armenians and Greeks but whatever.

 

[Your Weird Fetish]

Basically every sjw does that with the "Power+Prejudice" thing.

Dunno what they say about light skinned South Africans, Jews, Gypsies, Armenians and Greeks but whatever.

Anything outside the US and maybe some parts of Western Europe doesn't matter to them.

 

[whatever I feel like]

I think, if argued under the right conditions, putting some form of regulation on Google search as a piece of key infrastructure is a good thing. Its also repeatedly acted in a monopolistic fashion to strangle upcoming competitors, primarily through its dominance of search, which should invite a different form of regulation.

Other sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, which exist solely for personal connections, should be free to do whatever they want, even if I personally dislike it.

 

[Medicated]

This shit affects Leftists as well btw if anyone wants to say this is bad because Turmp supporters



https://www.blackagendareport.com/google-censors-the-real-left

I don't think it's that Google is idealogical, it's that Google sees no money from properly informing people. But you can get a lot more money from advertisers and media you have a cozy business relationship with. And since Google and the other big IT giants are a short drive from each other, why not just promote Buzzfeed, and the other clickbaiters nearby?

That they all have a matching political slant is simply because they are all based out of California and to a lesser extent New York.

 

[Mrs Paul]

Didn't someone at Google literally redefine the word 'racism' so it couldn't apply to white people?

N0 offense, but do you have a cite for that? From some place that's NOT from Breitbart, or the Daily Caller or even a leftist site, but some mainstream one? Color me skeptical.

It's funny how for all the hand-wringing about how awful it is to live under soulless corporations that care only for money, as we've seen, are they any better when they develop an alleged moral compass? Seems to me that they somehow get worse when they decide to police their own customer base for the taint of the social heretic.....

Robber Barons will at least stop pestering you when your money is spent, the ideologue will not rest until they own your every thought and feeling.

Said "moral compass" is just for PR purposes, I'm guessing. If being "woke" is what gets people spending their money well, by God, that's what they'll be.

No one gave a good god damn about the “fairness doctine” until Rush Limbaugh got popular during the Clinton years.

The "Fairness Doctrine" was repealed in 1987. Limbaugh didn't really become popular until a year after that, when he was syndicated nation-wide. (And who takes that guy seriously anyways?)

It wasn't until 2005 that people started clamoring for it to come back. Clinton and Limbaugh had jack all to do with it.

Generally, politicians (on BOTH sides of the aisle) tend to define "fairness" as "whatever benefits me". This IS one of those cases where you can safely say, both sides do it.

 

[Your Weird Fetish]

I think, if argued under the right conditions, putting some form of regulation on Google search as a piece of key infrastructure is a good thing. Its also repeatedly acted in a monopolistic fashion to strangle upcoming competitors, primarily through its dominance of search,

There are numerous other search engines operating at this very moment.

 

[Commander Keen]

N0 offense, but do you have a cite for that? From some place that's NOT from Breitbart, or the Daily Caller or even a leftist site, but some mainstream one? Color me skeptical.



Said "moral compass" is just for PR purposes, I'm guessing. If being "woke" is what gets people spending their money well, by God, that's what they'll be.




The "Fairness Doctrine" was repealed in 1987. Limbaugh didn't really become popular until a year after that, when he was syndicated nation-wide. (And who takes that guy seriously anyways?)

It wasn't until 2005 that people started clamoring for it to come back. Clinton and Limbaugh had jack all to do with it.

Generally, politicians (on BOTH sides of the aisle) tend to define "fairness" as "whatever benefits me". This IS one of those cases where you can safely say, both sides do it.

Naw, I remember back in the 90s people were shilling it hard and people tagged on Limbaugh as a reason why it was important.

 

[whatever I feel like]

There are numerous other search engines operating at this very moment.

And none of them are in common use (well, duckduckgo actually gets a ton of traffic, but its a curated list.)

 

[Mrs Paul]

Naw, I remember back in the 90s people were shilling it hard and people tagged on Limbaugh as a reason why it was important.

Could be, I didn't pay much attention to that shit back then I'm afraid. But the main instigators for dumping it were in the 1980s.