Oddbean

Interestingly, if we believe Zach Vorhies' list of queries that Google censors [1], it censors both right-wing (rightwingnews.com, chicksontheright.com, rightsidenews.com, rightsidenews.com, yesimright.com) and left-wing queries & websites (liberalamerica.org, modernliberals.com, trueactivist.com, libertynewsnow. com); as well as both conservative (“abortion is wrong,” “abortion is murdering,” “Abortion and the Catholic Church,” “immigrant NYC shooting” in youtube) and liberal (“Pro abortionists,” “Abortion Rights Campaign Ireland,” “Rape Crisis Network,” gaybuzzer.com, judgybitch.com); both pro-Republican (ilovemyfreedom.com, donaldtrumpnews.co, trumpinsurrection. com, 34 inquiries related to “anti trump” [shooter]) and pro-democracy (democraticreview.com, advocate.com); both pro-state (patriotjournal.com, angrypatriotmovement.com, supremepatriot.com, proud-patriots.com) and anti-state (thelibertarianrepublic.com, tipsforsurvivalists.com); furthermore, exmormons (reddit.com/r/exmormon), embroidery forums (www.knittingparadise.com), a whole bunch of political events (“truck incident,” “terrorist attack,” “plane crash in russia,” “911”) and the worst conspiracy theories (“colgate on penis,” “abortion increases breast cancer,” “cancer cure” — meaning dangerous & proven-as-false self-treatments, not actual attempts to cure the cancer). Also, the list contains a bunch of repetition. Assuming it's real, it seems that either it was sketched by regular employees/dumbest AI, or Google consciously censors farther “edgy” than political points (right or left, authoritarian or anti-authoritarian), because the masses are easier to control when they don't revolt (even for ridiculous/conspiracy reasons). That doesn't mean we need to riot over every conspiracy bullshit to oppose the state (but we do need to riot for real ones). It also doesn't mean that Google doesn't use real, serious censorship to manipulate opinions. Just Zach Vorhies lists are, perhaps, not a good proof for that. What do you think? [1] https://www.zachvorhies.com/blacklists/index.html (image by @xepace; would be interested to hear the opinion of @SimplifiedPrivacy.com Podcast)