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How Google Alters Search Queries to Get at Your Wallet - WIRED (www.wired.com)

submitted 9 months ago by ijeff@lemdro.id to c/technology@beehaw.org

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Google may be altering billions of search queries daily to generate results that increase purchases.

Testimony in an antitrust case revealed an internal Google slide about changes to its search algorithm, involving "semantic matching" to generate more commercial results.

Google covertly changes user queries, substituting them with ones that generate more revenue for the company and display shopping-oriented results.

This manipulation benefits Google's profits but harms search quality and raises advertiser costs.

Despite legal challenges, Google's market dominance allows it to continue these practices, impacting users' ability to access unbiased information.

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[-] macallik@kbin.social 11 points 9 months ago

It feels like every other post on privacy and technology is someone pushing the (paid) search engine Kagi nowadays...

[-] dan@upvote.au 6 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

I'm not affiliated with Kagi or anything, it's just refreshing to have a fresh approach to search engines that doesn't involve using advertising to pay for it. I haven't actually paid for a plan yet, but I do have a trial account, and it seems like a pretty good product.

[-] Linssiili@sopuli.xyz 5 points 9 months ago

Probably, since every other post is about search engines, and many of us have been cursing the ever-worsening search results from google, with no real alternative (that actually provides better results than google).

Now that there is finally an ad-free product that performs like Google did 5-10 years ago, of course, I want others to have the same experience and not get frustrated when they can't find the information they're seeking.