NEW YORK (AP) — Google is trying to improve the quality of its search results by directing review teams to flag content that might come across as upsetting or offensive.
With the change, content with racial slurs could now get flagged under a new category called "upsetting-offensive." So could content that promotes hate or violence against a specific group of people based on gender, race or other criteria.They're a non-governmental entity so they can do what they want, but I really doubt that this is going to be applied in anything like a neutral manner.
Seriously who is going to decide?
Example - over the years a number of parents have complained about Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn because of the name of Huck's African-American companion. Would a search of sites regarding those books and controversies be flagged as offensive? If so what about "The Handmaids Tale" I find that offensive because it impugns motives to conservatives that most of us don't share. It's also just a shitty book and that offends me too.
OR
what about people posting advocating violence against Trump supporters? Will that be treated as harshly as White Supremacists advocating violence against minorities.
Oh well, I guess I'm not surprised. I've said a few times it's not going to be the Verizon and AT&Ts that kill the internet by opposing Net Neutrality; it's going to be the Googles and Facebooks thru their actual control of content.
(Note: Do not take this post as support of Nazi's or White Supremacists. I despise their dumb asses. It is merely a critique of a potential erosion of open speech.)
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