Recent questionable search results show Google appearing to conflate the opposing terms socialism and capitalism.
A Google search for “socialism and racism” shows that Google may be confused about the definition of socialism. When the search is completed, Google includes results for “capitalism and racism” by default, forcing the user to click another link in order to show results only for the initial query, “socialism and racism.”
The “including results from” feature is often used when search terms are misspelled. It will include search results for the original term and the suggested alternative by default. This results in a better user experience without the user having to correct the error and start the search over.
Several years ago, some users noticed that Google was offering more navigational suggestions using this feature. For example, a search for “face” would include results for “Facebook,” and a search for “pint” would include results for “Pinterest.”
It is unclear why Google would choose to include results for “capitalism and racism” when a search is conducted for “socialism and racism.” Capitalism and socialism are completely opposite political philosophies.
Capitalism is defined by Merriam-Webster as:
“an economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods, by investments that are determined by private decision, and by prices, production, and the distribution of goods that are determined mainly by competition in a free market.”
Conversely, Merriam-Webster defines socialism as:
“any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods.”
When reached for comment about this issue, a Google spokesperson gave Media Research Center the following comment:
“Our related words system helps us provide relevant results, by finding content on the web even when you don’t use words that are exact matches with what’s on a web page. Sometimes, our systems may learn that two words are closely related, and believe searching for both of them might be more useful. That is what is happening in this case. The related word system isn’t always perfect, which is why we clearly show that an expansion is happening, and make it easy to narrow the search, if desired. We’ll take this feedback and look into how we can improve our systems overall.”
Google recently made headlines for blacklisting conservative sites such as Newsbusters.org, something it attributed to a “bug,” which has since been resolved. Coincidentally, Congressional hearings regarding Big Tech’s bias against conservatives were held shortly after that incident. Brent Bozell, Media Research Center’s president, made a comment before the hearings, saying that Google has a “monopolistic control” over information.
Conservatives are under attack. Contact Google at 1-650-253-0000 and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on “hate speech” and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us at the Media Research Center contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
