House Judiciary Committee has to have Google explained to them

[Mormolyce]

Google's Sundar Pichai explains to Congress why searching 'idiot' results in Donald Trump pictures

The House Judiciary Committee has questioned Google chief executive Sundar Pichai over why, when you search the word "idiot" in Google images, a picture of US President Donald Trump comes up.

"How does that happen? How does search work so that that would occur?" Democratic representative Zoe Lofgren asked.

Mr Pichai answered earnestly that Google stores billions of pages in its index, takes the keyword, matches it against the pages and then ranks them.

He said "things like relevance, freshness, popularity, how other people are using it" play a part in how items are ranked so that, at any given time, that rank will show the best results for the Google search.

"So it's not some little man sitting behind the curtain figuring out what we're going to show the users?" congresswoman Lofgren asked.

"[Instead it's a] compilation of what users are generating in trying to sort through that information?"

Mr Pichai answered: "Last year we saw over 3 trillion searches, so we don't manually intervene on any given search result."

Why was he even asked this?
In the past, Mr Trump has accused Google of rigging search results to suppress conservative viewpoints and highlight coverage from media that he says distribute "fake news".

In August, he tweeted:


Donald J. Trump
Google search results for “Trump News” shows only the viewing/reporting of Fake News Media. In other words, they have it RIGGED, for me & others, so that almost all stories & news is BAD. Fake CNN is prominent. Republican/Conservative & Fair Media is shut out. Illegal? 96% of....
....results on “Trump News” are from National Left-Wing Media, very dangerous. Google & others are suppressing voices of Conservatives and hiding information and news that is good. They are controlling what we can & cannot see. This is a very serious situation-will be addressed!

Google has denied any such bias, and while the question has dogged tech companies for years, there's no evidence of an anti-conservative or any other political tilt.

While a statement from Google at the time said search results are not dictated by a political agenda but are generated by algorithms which are constantly being improved, Mr Pichai told Congress on Tuesday "we don't participate in partisan activities".

"We engage with both campaigns. We support and sponsor debates on both sides of the aisle."

Top committee Democrat Jerrold Nadler called the notion of bias a "delusion" and a "right-wing conspiracy theory".

He said Tuesday's hearing was the committee's fourth to address the topic — and he suggested he would move on to other topics, like the spread of misinformation online and Russians' efforts to influence US elections online.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-...tures/10609468

I can only assume Lofgren's comment is some pointed sass.

[Milchshake]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-...tures/10609468

I can only assume Lofgren's comment is some pointed sass.

Where can I donate to her campaign!?!?


For the people that don't read so well:

[zorkuus]

WTF?

On a more serious note: why were they searching that? Were they hoping it would show Hillary and Obama?

[Mormolyce]

Democrats erupt into laughter after Google CEO has to explain to Rep. Steve King that the 'iPhone is made by a different company'

At a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday, Google CEO Sundar Pichai was asked by Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) why his 7-year-old granddaughter saw a photo of the congressman with inappropriate language while playing a game on her iPhone.
Pichai answered, “Congressman, iPhone is made by a different company.”
The Democratic staff table erupted in laughter at Pichai’s reply, according to Business Insider’s Joe Perticone, who attended Tuesday’s hearing.
Rep. Ted Lieu (D-California) told the Iowa congressman later in the hearing that if he wanted “positive search results, do positive things.”

https://www.businessinsider.com.au/s...8-12?r=US&IR=T

And this definitely wasn't an episode of Arrested Development?

Arrested Development narrator voice: ...it wasn't.

[Sting]

I thought it was common knowledge that google uses a tailored search feature?

[Kaleredar]

This is as close as we're going to get to having Donald Trump show up next to the word "idiot" in the dictionary.

Google working for positive change in the world. I like it.

[Aurrora]

It's a fair question.

Google has the power to and does curate search results. During the 2016 election when "Crooked Hillary" and other such topics were trending Google would not autocomplete to these phrases when every other search engine would.

Now, go to a number of search engines and perform an image search for the word "idiot". Yes, every search engine is going to give you pictures of Trump because a lot of people do call him an idiot plus this is now going to be a trending news topic, but just look how many more pictures of him appear on Google compared to every other engine.

There is a definite bias with Google.

[Varvara Spiros Gelashvili]

It's a fair question.

Google has the power to and does curate search results. During the 2016 election when "Crooked Hillary" and other such topics were trending Google would not autocomplete to these phrases when every other search engine would.

Now, go to a number of search engines and perform an image search for the word "idiot". Yes, every search engine is going to give you pictures of Trump because a lot of people do call him an idiot plus this is now going to be a trending news topic, but just look how many more pictures of him appear on Google compared to every other engine.

There is a definite bias with Google.

https://www.politifact.com/punditfac...gorithm-hide-/

It does the same for trump. Next time do some research before spouting off about how you feel. Reality awesome try living there in the future ok.

[Ahhdurr]

It's a fair question.

Google has the power to and does curate search results. During the 2016 election when "Crooked Hillary" and other such topics were trending Google would not autocomplete to these phrases when every other search engine would.

Now, go to a number of search engines and perform an image search for the word "idiot". Yes, every search engine is going to give you pictures of Trump because a lot of people do call him an idiot plus this is now going to be a trending news topic, but just look how many more pictures of him appear on Google compared to every other engine.

There is a definite bias with Google.

Trump, like you, are terminally retarded. Google did its job.

[Celista]

Lawyers ask stupid-sounding questions so that laypeople understand how things like Google work. I guarantee you that there are a bunch of old people out there who think that Google is powered by a magical genie that hates Trump.

[Aurrora]

https://www.politifact.com/punditfac...gorithm-hide-/

It does the same for trump. Next time do some research before spouting off about how you feel. Reality awesome try living there in the future ok.

What's there to research? The "Crooked Hillary" example was to show that they do in fact curate the search results for their engine.

And it's clearly pushing a ton more images of Trump than any other search engine today when you search the term "idiot", this is easily verifiable perhaps you should do your research first?

[Celista]

It's a fair question.

Google has the power to and does curate search results. During the 2016 election when "Crooked Hillary" and other such topics were trending Google would not autocomplete to these phrases when every other search engine would.

Now, go to a number of search engines and perform an image search for the word "idiot". Yes, every search engine is going to give you pictures of Trump because a lot of people do call him an idiot plus this is now going to be a trending news topic, but just look how many more pictures of him appear on Google compared to every other engine.

There is a definite bias with Google.

Proving my point.

[Aurrora]

Proving my point.

Are you seriously going to argue that there isn't a left leaning bias at Google and that this may be impacting how their search algorithm chooses what to promote?

[Varvara Spiros Gelashvili]

What's there to research? The "Crooked Hillary" example was to show that they do in fact curate the search results for their engine.

And it's clearly pushing a ton more images of Trump than any other search engine today when you search the term "idiot", this is easily verifiable perhaps you should do your research first?

When you search but you were complaining about auto correcting. Don't move the goal post becuase you got emotional. It wouldn't autocorrected to Crooked hillary but you could still search it. Just stop being a simp and think for yourself leave the plantation.

- - - Updated - - -

Are you seriously going to argue that there isn't a left leaning bias at Google and that this may be impacting how their search algorithm chooses what to promote?

There is a right wing bias in the miltairy and fbi should we investigate that as well. You can have a bias and operate fairly it's called being an adult...

[Aurrora]

Don't move the goal post becuase you got emotional.

I'm the one getting emotional? You're the one that appears to be lashing out in anger for the obvious being pointed out to them.

There is a right wing bias in the miltairy and fbi should we investigate that as well. You can have a bias and operate fairly it's called being an adult...

Yes, you can have a bias and operate fairly, but if you're going to have such a hostile response to someone pointing out a clear bias... maybe you're not really concerned with operating fairly.

[Varvara Spiros Gelashvili]

I'm the one getting emotional? You're the one that appears to be lashing out in anger for the obvious being pointed out to them.


Yes, you can have a bias and operate fairly, but if you're going to have such a hostile response to someone pointing out a clear bias... maybe you're not really concerned with operating fairly.

Just stating the truth and I'd like for you to admit your wrong and have a tenuous grasp on the topic now. You didn't at all auto correcting and a complete search are different things. Google also auto corrects for Trump and other representatives regardless of party. Nothing you said was based in reality. There comes a time where you need to be honest to save time.

I could slowly debate you on the topic but I went for the headshot.

[Aurrora]

Trump, like you, is terminally retarded. Google did its job.

Ftfy, enjoy your time off from the forums. Maybe brush up on some grammar, or just find a way to de-stress, you seem a little angry.

[Celista]

Are you seriously going to argue that there isn't a left leaning bias at Google and that this may be impacting how their search algorithm chooses what to promote?

That would be some pretty petty behavior on the part of Google, and would easily be traced. So no, I don't think so. I can understand why Trump supporters would be concerned, however, given the petty trolling that Trump initiates on Twitter. Not to mention the persecution complex/propaganda he spreads about being a perpetual victim.

[WintersLegion]

I tried searching for Trump is an i and it auto completes to Trump is an idiom and is talking about things like trump cards. If I search for Trump is a i it doesn't auto complete to anything.

[Varvara Spiros Gelashvili]

That would be some pretty petty behavior on the part of Google, and would easily be traced. So no, I don't think so. I can understand why Trump supporters would be concerned, however, given the petty trolling that Trump initiates on Twitter. Not to mention the persecution complex/propaganda he spreads about being a perpetual victim.

He won't talk about how right leaning the miltairy, police, or fbi are though. We don't need oversight or affirmative action there. I called him a simp because he is being a simp not gonna waste an hour confirming.