Google censorship, Islamophobia and sexism

This video from the USA says about itself:

Support the WSWS’s fight against Google censorship!

4 August 2017

Sign up here.

A new search algorithm introduced by search engine Google in April under the guise of combating “fake news” has significantly reduced Google search traffic to left-wing and anti-war Internet sites.

A growing number of leading left-wing websites have confirmed that their search traffic from Google has plunged in recent months, adding to evidence that Google, under the cover of a fraudulent campaign against fake news, is implementing a program of systematic and widespread censorship. Truthout, a not-for-profit news website that focuses on political, social, and ecological developments from a left progressive standpoint, had its readership plunge by 35 percent since April. The Real News, a nonprofit video news and documentary service, has had its search traffic fall by 37 percent. Another site, Common Dreams, last week told the WSWS that its search traffic had fallen by up to 50 percent: here.

It seems that to the Google bigwigs, being pro-peace is ‘fake news‘; while Rupert Murdoch‘s ~~Faux News~~ Fox News and Donald Trump‘s neo-fascist adviser Steve Bannon‘s Breitbart News are supposedly legitimate news sources.

US autoworkers denounce Google censorship of WSWS: here.

It is not the only problem with Google.

Already in 2007, Google favoured right-wing creationist pseudo science over science.

Google has an Islamophobia problem in its English language searches.

In a Dutch language Google search I did on Islam, among the top 10 results were Islamophobic extreme right conspiracy theorist E.J. Bron and an Islamophobic article in right-wing weekly Elsevier.

Google also has a sexism problem.

Translated from Dutch NOS TV:

Google embarrassed: employee thinks men are preferable for tech top jobs

Today, 04:41

A memo by a Google employee about the company’s diversity policy has again led to a heated discussion of sexual harassment and discrimination in Silicon Valley, as was previously the case with Uber taxi service.

In the memo, the Google employee describes that he believes that “the left-wing orientation of Google leads to a politically correct culture”

‘Left-wing orientation’!!?? Only in a sense like the British Conservative party which historically opposed women’s suffrage and later became ‘left-wing’ in the sense that they allowed Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May to become prime ministers.

within which a fair debate about diversity can not be addressed.

According to the employee, the lack of women in the technology industry should be explained by [supposed] biological differences between men and women. …

“We must stop assuming that the gap between men and women [in wages, top jobs etc.] is caused by sexism,” the man writes in the approximately 3000-worded memo. …

The memo came at an awkward moment for Google. The US Department of Justice said earlier they want to investigate the company because female workers may get less pay than men.

I would not be surprised if Jeff Sessions, Donald Trump‘s new boss of the Department of Justice, would now try to stop that investigation.

GOOGLE CANCELS TOWN HALL ON GENDER DISPUTE Over fears of the far-right. [Reuters]

THE GOOGLE MONOPOLY IN ACTION When Barry Lynn and his team of anti-monopoly researchers at the New America Foundation spoke out about Google’s status as a monopoly, they were promptly fired from their institution, which receives large donations from the tech giant. [HuffPost]