Have you ever wondered how Google produces the desired output for what we search for on it? Is there a person sitting behind the platform that monitors all our queries, or is it just modern software technology?Before diving into the politics of search results, it’s important to understand how Google works behind the scenes. Google’s search engine uses software called web crawlers to scan billions of websites and store the information in a massive index. When you type a query, Google’s ranking algorithm sifts through this index to show the most relevant results based on hundreds of factors.But sometimes when the trend goes wrong, even the most reputable individuals can also face unexpected consequences.One similar incident happened with US president Donald Trump when his image appeared among the top results in a Google image search for the word “idiot”, and what followed was a high-profile moment in Washington.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Donald Trump
Google CEO Sundar Pichai questioned over “Idiot” search results for Donald Trump
Previously a video surfaced on the internet from a House Judiciary Committee hearing, where Google CEO Sundar Pichai was asked a question that went viral online.“How does that happen? How does search work so that that would occur?”, asked Democratic Representative Zoe Lofgren. Pichai explained that Google doesn’t manually pick or edit results. Instead, the algorithm processes information based on user behavior and relevance.“We take the keyword and match it against billions of pages in our index. Then we rank them based on things like relevance, freshness, popularity, how other people are using it,” replied Sundar Pichai.Lofgren followed up jokingly, “So it’s not some little man sitting behind the curtain figuring out what we’re going to show the users?”To which Pichai responded, “Last year we saw over 3 trillion searches, so we don’t manually intervene on any given search result.”The exchange came in the wake of Donald Trump’s public claims that Google was biased against conservatives. In a 2018 tweet, Trump accused Google of rigging search results to favor “fake news” media and suppress conservative voices. However, no evidence has been found to support these allegations.
What is Google Bombing
One result of this systematic algorithm is something called “Google bombing.” It happens when a large number of users intentionally associate a certain phrase with a specific page or image, usually through linking or repeated searches. The algorithm picks up on this collective pattern and reflects it in the results, not because Google agrees, but because that’s what the internet seems to be saying.What the Trump “idiot” search result shows is not Google bias, but how the internet behaves. As BBC said, it’s a case of “Google bombing,” where algorithms reflect the collective voice of web users, not the political views of tech companies.
