Gray told me, “I stand by my larger point-the Google Search team and Google ad team worked together to secretly boost commercial queries, which triggered more ads and thus revenue. (That chart, according to Adriance, represents a “ phrase match” feature that the company uses for its ads product “Google does not delete queries and replace them with ones that monetize better as the opinion piece suggests, and the organic results you see in Search are not affected by our ads systems,” he said.) Google trial, in which the company is defending itself against charges that it violated federal antitrust law. It’s an alarming allegation, and Ned Adriance, a spokesperson for Google, told me that it’s “flat-out false.” Gray, who is also a former vice president of the Google Search competitor DuckDuckGo, had seemingly misinterpreted a chart that was briefly presented during the company’s ongoing U.S. For example, Google is said to surreptitiously replace a query for “children’s clothing” with “NIKOLAI-brand kidswear” on the back end in order to direct users to lucrative shopping links on the results page. The op-ed argued that Google alters user searches to include more lucrative keywords. This week, Wired published a story by the former FTC attorney Megan Gray that illustrates the dynamic in a nutshell. But although we know that all of this is happening in aggregate, it’s hard to know specifically how large technology companies exert their influence over our lives. Algorithms optimized for engagement shape what we see on social media and can goad us into participation by showing us things that are likely to provoke strong emotional responses. So-called dark patterns, deceptive bits of web design that can trick people into certain choices online, make it harder to unsubscribe from a scammy or unwanted newsletter they nudge us into purchases. Why these search results? Why this product recommendation? There is a feeling-often warranted, sometimes conspiracy-minded-that we are constantly manipulated by platforms and websites. Living online means never quite understanding what’s happening to you at a given moment.
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