You’ve likely heard the adage: Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. If such is the case, the smoldering flames of Google’s suppression of conservative websites through search engine results just got doused with a gallon of accelerant. This is not radical news to those who’ve been listening.
First, there was Todd Dunning’s whisper back in 2015 that Google was manipulating search results. Then there was a Robert Epstein study to this effect earlier this year. And now we have another new research paper, put out by Leo Goldstein, with similar findings.
Uh oh. It sounds like a Google Trend is shaping up here. Goldstein found that among the persecuted sites were such ghastly outlets as American Thinker, The Drudge Report, PJ Media, and The Gateway Pundit. What do these folks all have in common? It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that one out. As Editorial Director of LibertyNation.com, I can tell you that news like this sends chills up my spine – as it should yours.
And here’s why according to Goldstein’s letter to PJ Media:
You might be interested to learn, that your websites have been almost blacklisted by Google. "Almost blacklisted" means that Google search artificially downranks results from your websites to such extent that you lose 55% - 75% of possible visitors traffic from Google. This situation is probably aggravated by secondary effects, because many users and webmasters see Google ranking as a signal of trust.
Now there apparently are some mitigating factors according to PJ Media. The first has to do with the methodology of Goldstein’s study and the second has to do with an apparent conflict of interest (according to PJM) that shows Goldstein owns and has shorted Google stock – probably not the brightest of ideas if you want people to take your research seriously.
Google’s Search Result Suppression Amounts to Censorship
Still, Mr. Goldstein’s study cannot be entirely ignored or impugned because the stakes are quite high for those living under the threat of search engine persecution. Let’s take our site, Liberty Nation, for example. When people use a search engine to find LN -- 96% of the time they use Google. That leaves four percent for Bing, Duck-Duck-Go, and everybody else.
Google operates using undisclosed top-secret algorithms that change all the time for their search engine results. But these algorithms are designed by programmers who are, after all, people. These people certainly have political leanings, and thus, conservative websites have reason to believe they are being sighted in the crosshairs of Google’s leftist ideology.
The Practice of Search Result Suppression is Dangerous – and not Just to Conservatives
Whether one is a raging leftist or a diehard conservative, this is troubling news. Not just for places like Liberty Nation and American Thinker and all the other conservative websites out there. No, the trial and tribulation of our sites reflect upon American life and culture – indeed, the very foundation of who we are as a people.
Our feckless conservative lawmakers in The Swamp have all the power then need to right a situation like this, but thus far have not done a damn thing. Google clearly represents the most powerful monopoly this country has ever witnessed. Don’t get me wrong; I like Google because they are good at what they do. I use Google every single day. But my trust in Google is waning, and so should yours, because that little bit of smoldering has turned into a four-alarm fire.
Everything America stands for is at risk should these studies prove even marginally accurate. America has always been the land of the free. The question is: Will it remain so?
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