Google launches offensive against Fake News PL – 05/01/2023 – Politics

Google launched an offensive against PL 2630, the bill that regulates the internet and which should be voted on this Tuesday (2), show emails, prints and reports obtained by Sheetas well as a survey by NetLab, from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ).

Anyone using Google this Monday (1st) is faced with a link right below the search box, with the words: “The bill of fake news can make your internet worse”. The link takes you to a Google blog post with numerous criticisms of the project. According to the data site Statista, 97% of Brazilians use Google for internet searches. According to a NetLab survey, the platform is also privileging content links opposing the PL in search results about the bill, in addition to Google’s own ads criticizing the new legislation.

Sought by the report, the platform denied that it is favoring links against the PL in its search engine and stated that its ranking systems apply to all web pages, including those it administers.

According to NetLab, when searching for “PL 2630” in the search engine, among the first results is an advertising link with the title: “PL da Censura”. It leads to a post on Google’s blog that says the proposal “could make your internet worse.”

In addition to this, the other links that appear in the first results of searches for the term are official, such as those from the Senate and Chamber, from press vehicles and from hyper-partisan websites that position themselves against the PL, such as Revista Oeste, PlenoNews, PLdaCensura and Boletim da Liberdade, owned by former congressman Paulo Ganime (Novo-RJ), who leads a campaign against regulation, as well as videos from the Brasil Paralelo channel on YouTube.

According to NetLab, Google’s links against the PL also appeared on the first page, not as an advertisement, but as a result of the organic search for the term “PL 2630”, in anonymous queries, suggesting a generic Brazilian user with no history, among the April 23rd and 28th.

In addition, youtubers have been receiving since Friday (28) emails from YouTube stating that they will lose money if the project is approved. The messages state that the PL compromises “our revenue sharing model”.

They say that by being forced to pay for journalistic content, as provided for in Article 32 of the PL, there would be “fewer funds to invest in you, in all our creators and in the programs to help you develop your audience”. In the end, he urges youtubers to talk “with their deputies on social networks even today”.

On Twitter, influencer Felipe Neto responded to YouTube’s email, saying he had never seen “such a heavy attempt to use creators to defend Google’s interests”.

According to him, “YouTube’s positioning is shameful, as it is a lie and a threat made intentionally”.

According to Marie Santini, coordinator of NetLab, Google’s algorithm that determines the ranking of sites in the search engine normally shows the results in order of relevance. It is among the criteria that the link has been cited by other reputable sources on the internet.

“What appears to us is that Google has weighted the search results in such a way as to increase the relevance of its own voice on its platform.”

According to her, “this could constitute abuse of economic power on the eve of the vote” to try to impact public opinion and the votes of parliamentarians.

The rapporteur for PL 2630, Deputy Orlando Silva (PC do B-SP), also criticizes the platforms. “The tricks that these big techs use to combat this project makes the need for regulation of these companies evident”, he says.

In a note sent to Sheet, Google the “allegations do not correspond to reality”. “As evidenced by the fact that links to Google’s Blog, for example, are also highly positioned on competitors’ search engines. We do not manually change the results lists to determine the position of a specific page. Our ranking systems apply consistently to all web pages, including those operated by Google.”

Google had hinted at suspending its funding programs for journalism if the PL is approved, in a blog post on Saturday (29). In the text, signed by Henrique Matos, director of news partnerships in Latin America, the company states that the article on journalistic remuneration should recognize the investment that the company already makes, otherwise “there will be little incentive for these partnership efforts to continue existing”. .

YouTube content creators who opened YouTube Studio, an interface for channel management, were also surprised by a blue stripe with the words: “Negative impact for creators – Fake News Law”.

The link led to text from YouTube, in which the company says that, if the law is passed, it will be encouraged “to aggressively remove content for fear of being held accountable”.

Sérgio Hoff, youtuber from the Sindical Influencer channel, claims to have found the urgent alert strange, since this type of notice is generally related to changes in platform policies or to themes that can affect the moderation of its content, according to him.

“This is not an alert from the platform, but a kind of coercion”, he says.

In a note, Google said it also uses notifications on YouTube “to highlight information that we think is important to this audience”. “In the debate on PL 2630/20, we understand that the voices of creators were little consulted or considered.”

Another complaint came from the Sleeping Giants group, which had an ad defending PL 2630 taken down by YouTube, with the justification that the piece related to “sensitive events”. The video criticized big tech for “doing little against misinformation”.

According to YouTube’s advertising policies, “sensitive events” are those related to “substantial social, cultural or political impact, such as civil emergencies, natural disasters, public health emergencies, terrorism and related activities, conflicts or acts of violence. “

According to Humberto Ribeiro, legal director of Sleeping Giants, it was the first time that the group had a video taken down.

The UFRJ NetLab report points out that Google itself bought ads against the PL on the platform itself, on Meta and even on Spotify, which prohibits this type of advertising.

The audio app was running a Google ad in the middle of playing playlists or podcasts, saying to “talk to your congressman on social media later today”. Under Spotify’s rules, however, the app does not accept political ads, which include content that “criticizes political entities or legislative decisions”.

After publication of the report, Spotify contacted the Sheet and informed, through his advisory, that he had paralyzed Google’s advertising campaign against the PL, on the understanding that it violates the application’s rules.

Part of the ads against the PL paid by Brasil Paralelo and by Google itself do not appear in the big tech transparency report, so it is not possible to know how much was spent and what was the reach.

Also according to NetLab, Google “presents biased search results”, because users who search with the question “What is PL 2630” receive search suggestions on “Censorship PL was approved” and “What is PL of censorship”. The term “PL da Censura” is how opponents refer to the law.

Google claims that autocomplete reflects “real searches being done”. “Google will show common and popular searches that other people have done in the search box, relevant to the terms you’re typing.”

According to Marie Santini, the suggestions do not correspond to the most frequently asked questions in the search engine, according to an analysis by the SemRush website.

Last year, when the urgent request for PL 2630 was voted (and defeated), Google also campaigned heavily against the legislation and included a critical link on the search page. It also sent emails to merchants, saying that the law would make it difficult for these micro-entrepreneurs to advertise online.