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Turns out that making Google search unusable was an intentional strategy by the company. (lemmygrad.ml)

submitted 22 hours ago by yogthos@lemmygrad.ml to c/technology@lemmygrad.ml

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https://journalrecord.com/2025/02/20/is-google-making-search-worse-to-sell-more-ads/

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[–] Sal@mander.xyz 3 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

I have no love for google, but this can easily be misinterpreted. Within the screenshot, there are two mentions about studies. The first one refers to Google's internal studies that were disclosed to the courts, and the second one refers to an independent study from WalletHub. By cropping the text in this way it is easy for someone to conclude that the referenced study in the final paragraph is Google's internal study (at least that is how I read it), but it is not.

The antitrust case claims about the internal studies are found in page 48 of 1:20-cv-03010-APM.

Here is the screenshot:

The source documents can be found in the trial exhibits. Unfortunately, the specific internal tests are referenced as UPX1082, and this document does not appear to publicly released.

One can look at this combined information and reach the conclusion that Google is actively decreasing the quality of results to keep users longer. But it is still that, forming an opinion based on some available evidence, not a proven assertion.

[–] ksynwa@lemmygrad.ml 5 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

There are plenty of emails showing their intention to make search worse for $$$. Ed Zitron wrote on this topic: https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-men-who-killed-google/

[–] Sal@mander.xyz 2 points 4 hours ago

I appreciate the added context, thanks.

I am not claiming that Google is or isn't doing this. I made my comment because from the title and the text in the image I built an initial impression which was refuted when I looked further into it.

Critical examination of this post is not about answering "Is Google making search results worse on purpose?", but actually a much less ambitious question: does the sourced article provide strong enough evidence to support the assertion "Turns out that making Google search unusable was an intentional strategy by the company"? I don't think so, so I made a comment.