Topic: Google News

Dr. Robert Epstein recounts how a New York Post story about election rigging was allegedly killed by editors in 2020 because the outlet relied on Google for 45% of its traffic. The discussion highlights the vulnerability of media organizations to big tech platforms. Recent data suggests that Microsoft's Bing has also adopted a pro-Biden bias in its search results.

The House passed a bill that could lead to a TikTok ban unless its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, sells the platform. Former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin expressed interest in buying the app, while New York Times contributor Julia Angwin argues that the national security concerns are overstated compared to data practices at Google and Meta.

Google is integrating its "Palm 2" large language model into its search engine to compete with Microsoft and Alibaba. The hosts clarify that these are "chatbots" rather than true artificial intelligence. In media news, MTV has officially shut down its news division after 36 years, marking the end of an era for the department once led by Kurt Loder.

Dr. Geoffrey Hinton, known as the "Godfather of AI," resigned from Google to speak freely about the dangers of the technology. In a PBS interview, he warns about the risks of fake news, job displacement, and the potential for superintelligent AI to take control from humans. The hosts are dismissive of his warnings, characterizing them as vague and potentially part of a broader "scam" or communist-leaning ideology.

Technical difficulties arose when a Microsoft Surface machine required four hours of mandatory updates upon being powered on in Jamaica. Security protocols in Excel and Google triggered suspicious activity alerts due to the geographic location change. Additionally, RT news is blocked on the island, requiring a VPN for access, though T-Mobile roaming service is functional.

Google is running tests to limit news access for 4% of Canadian users in response to Bill C-18, the Online News Act, which would force tech giants to compensate media outlets for links. Expert Michael Geist warns that if the bill passes, Google and Facebook may stop linking to Canadian news entirely to avoid paying 35% of news expenditures. The legislation is criticized as a misunderstanding of how the internet functions, potentially harming the very news organizations it intends to help.

Google faces a class-action lawsuit for tracking children's online behavior without parental consent and reaches a $20 million settlement with the state of Indiana over deceptive location tracking. Despite users opting out of "Location History," the company was found to still track their movements, leading to accusations of intrusive and dishonest practices.

Following the Joe Rogan interview with Robert Malone, Google reportedly manually edited search results for "mass formation psychosis" in real-time to prioritize debunking articles. The narrative was quickly adopted by Fox News hosts Laura Ingraham and Tucker Carlson, further polarizing the topic. Critics suggest that by linking the theory to Hitler, the intelligence community successfully "killed" the narrative's mainstream legs.

A lawsuit filed in the Southern District of New York alleges that a secret team inside Google called "G-Trade" manipulated advertising prices and engaged in front-running. The litigation suggests Google used its Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) system to track users and colluded with Facebook to fix prices in the digital ad exchange. These documents claim Google frequently won bids even when they were not the highest bidder, potentially defrauding advertisers.

Facebook has blocked all news content for Australian users in response to proposed legislation requiring tech giants to pay publishers. In contrast, Google has struck multi-million dollar deals with major outlets like News Corp and Seven West Media. The ban inadvertently took down government health and emergency service pages, leading to a public outcry and ongoing negotiations between Mark Zuckerberg and the Australian Treasurer.

The New York Post reportedly pulled an article by Ebony Bowden regarding tech company vote-rigging, possibly due to the paper's reliance on Google for 32% of its online traffic. While the Murdoch empire is often viewed as conservative, the younger generation of the family is seen as more aligned with the Democratic establishment. This shift has led many conservative viewers to migrate from Fox News to alternative outlets like Newsmax and One America News.

Mainstream media outlets, including The New York Times and The Guardian, characterized President Trump's Mount Rushmore speech as "fiery" and "divisive." Critics argue that these reports relied on pre-written templates rather than objective reporting of the event's lack of partisan gear like MAGA hats. Headlines focused on "Republican rebels" and the President's focus on "radical left" mobs.

A phenomenon is described where searching for any random three-digit number followed by "new cases" yields thousands of local news results. This is attributed to the automation of modern newsrooms, where templates are filled with data from government press releases and automatically published. This system creates a "blanketing" effect of propaganda that reinforces specific narratives through sheer volume across the digital ecosystem.

An article in the New York Times suggests abandoning the for-profit model for local newspapers in favor of a national network of non-profit online newsrooms. Proposals include funding from organizations like Kaiser Health News or tech giants like Facebook and Google. The shift is framed as a "painful but necessary" move to save journalists from the collapse of traditional advertising-based business models.

The advertising industry is in a freefall as conglomerates like WPP implement hiring freezes and major ad buys are canceled. AI-driven keyword filtering is preventing publishers from monetizing COVID-19 content, leading to the closure of 60 local newspapers. Even private communications are being affected, with reports of Google Voice blocking text messages containing the word "coronavirus."

Following Iran's admission of shooting down the civilian airliner, thousands of protesters took to the streets in Tehran to condemn the government. President Trump tweeted support for the protesters in Farsi, while Western media outlets like CNN and Google News prioritized headlines about the growing domestic criticism of the Iranian leadership. The narrative is framed as a coordinated effort to spark regime change.

The News Media Alliance is lobbying for the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (HR 2054), which would allow news publishers to collectively negotiate with Google and Facebook. The claim that Google made $4.7 billion from the news industry is scrutinized and labeled as potentially bogus. Representative David Cicilline's support for the bill is framed as an attempt to save local journalism from the dominance of tech platforms.

The New York Times published an investigative piece titled "The Making of a YouTube Radical," detailing how YouTube's recommendation algorithms evolved to prioritize watch time over views. This shift, driven by Google Brain's reinforcement learning, allegedly steered users toward extremist content to maximize engagement. The report is characterized as part of a broader media agenda to reclaim advertising dollars from Silicon Valley.

Google employees worldwide walked out to protest the company's handling of sexual harassment claims, specifically the $90 million exit package given to Android creator Andy Rubin. Protesters criticized the "negligent" culture regarding abuse of power and inequities. The hosts observe that mainstream media outlets, which compete with Google for ad revenue, have been surprisingly slow to amplify these negative stories.

A series of reports highlight invasive data collection practices, including Amazon Alexa patents for detecting illness via voice and Kinza connected thermometers selling fever data to pharmaceutical companies. Additionally, General Motors was found to be monitoring the radio listening habits of 90,000 drivers to sell data to advertisers.