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Google 'fringe ranking' documents: demoting fake news and conspiracy content

Leaked documents described a Google ranking effort, attributed to search engineer Paul Haahr, aimed at not showing fake news, hate speech and conspiracy theories unless users specifically sought them. Related materials described Google News review with 'demotion penalties' and a proposal to extend screening to 'fringe/controversial' content. The documents show categories of content, not political parties, as the stated targets.

Aug 14, 2019
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Whose side it served: Neither party

The documents target fake news, hate speech and conspiracy content as categories; whether that disadvantaged one side depends on how the categories were applied, which the leak does not show.

What the record shows

An Epoch Times report reprinted by Village News described a 'fringe ranking' document saying Haahr led an effort aimed at 'not showing fake news, hate speech, conspiracy theories' unless users wanted them. The same report described a late-2017 Google News review presentation with automated and manual review, demotion penalties for infractions, and a proposal to expand screening to fringe and controversial content. It also described a YouTube slide titled 'Fake news & other fringe: Trashy recap,' saying human raters reviewed the top 250 videos daily in 26 locales. Search Engine Roundtable's Barry Schwartz highlighted a term he read as 'fringy search' and said he found nothing 'shocking' even if the documents were real. Google did not respond to the Epoch Times' request for comment.

In their words

“Google has no notion of political ideology in its rankings.”— Jen Gennai, Google head of Responsible Innovation (Medium post, June 2019) · source
The other side

Supporters of the leak see the vague 'fringe' category as a tool that could be applied to dissenting views; Google's stated position is that its rankings have no notion of political ideology, and the documents name content types such as hoaxes and conspiracy theories as the targets.

Sources

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