Posted on 05/31/2025 12:55:10 PM PDT by Openurmind
[Note: What follows is a blog-post formatted version of the 34 page letter I submitted to the FTC on May 21, 2025 in response to the agency’s RFI entitled: “Request for Public Comment Regarding Technology Platform Censorship.” I have also added a section at the end on what you can do to save the open web from Google’s AI takeover.]
In this letter I will explain how Google censored my travel website – and thousands of small and independent web publishers like me – all so that it can use AI to control the flow of information online.
In late 2023 and early 2024, Google released an unprecedented series of algorithm updates that utterly decimated thousands of independent websites.
Travel Lemming lost more than 95% of our Google organic search referral traffic in these updates.
The shadowban algorithm that hit us was supposedly based on the content on our websites. But we later realized the shadowban really was about the type of website we are (i.e., small and independent).
While Google gives large publishers an appeal and recovery process, small and independent publishers have no path to appeal our shadowbans.
This is true even though Google admitted our shadowbans are its fault and not ours.
In fact, last October, Google even flew me and 19 other publishers out to its headquarters for a tour, an admission of wrongdoing, and an apology.
Though Google apologized, it also said that search has permanently changed with AI and thus our traffic may never return.
In this letter I will describe how I believe Google has been laying the groundwork for a grand plan to rethink search from the ground-up so as to profit from AI.
Google isn’t satisfied with its monopoly on the questions we search.
Google wants to use AI to monopolize the very answers themselves.
As one Google executive recently explained: “Organizing information is clearly a trillion-dollar opportunity, but a trillion dollars is not cool anymore. What’s cool is a quadrillion dollars.”
Google plans to use AI to consume and replace the open web.
I believe demolishing independent sites like mine was Google’s first step in clearing ground so it has space to rebuild search from the ground up for an “AI-first” future.
Google envisions a future where “Google does the Googling for you,” its AI and ads do the answering – and users never need to leave Google.
Google will just source information from a handful of sources and partner websites that it controls and selects – effectively creating an information cartel.
If Google can use AI to censor a travel website from the web arbitrarily and without opportunity for appeal – it can do the same to any source of information it wants.
And American citizens and Internet users everywhere will be worse off for it.
So while you may not really care about the plight of some random travel website getting censored, everyone should care about the way Google is deploying AI to build a censorship cartel that lets it control the flow of information online.
What follows is a lengthy summary of my experiences and my opinions as an independent publisher trying to survive in a monopolist’s information economy.
Much more great exposure...
“You had me up until the registration stuff. I had to register domains before google was founded.”
Oh no you didn’t. Domain Registration was so that Google could find it and index it by a text “name” rather than number IP address. To this day you do not need it for any other reason. I can set up a client/server and use a unique port and a unique URL scheme and be good to go legal and all. No need for domain names or Google indexing. But of course just like the old days of usenet it would not be indexed for search engines. So what? Use directories instead and screw all the Google inspired TLD controls.
“You “fight back” by lying about everything you enter on the web. Fake names. Fake information. Fake and throwaway identification verification.”
Unfortunately you are right. But it greatly bothers my morality that I have to become a liar to protect myself from their greed and control. Thankfully I do not have to. With the proper utilities and due diligence I can avoid 95% of it all.
But we should not have to do this either.
Yandex will work your anti-virus to death. It’s like the return of 2008 with viruses everywhere.
I’m going to back track on that. Industries and organizations were registering domains but it was not mandatory like it is now. The mandatory came as Google search was ramping up.
I don’t lie to people I know. I don’t know people on the internet.
They don’t need to know my birthday, address, or email address. That’s what I mean about lying on the internet. There is no morality involved with that stuff.
I understand. And what I mean is that they have put us in a position where we have to defend ourselves with false information. And it is because of their greed and monetizing our private data which also causes security issues for us. If they didn’t do that then we would not have to worry about our information and data being vulnerable. Therefore we would not have to provide false information to protect ourselves. It just bothers me morally that I have to falsify information to protect myself from their immoral greed when I should not have to.
i use brave
they separate the left and right results
two tabs
results from left
results from right
“they separate the left and right results”
Personally I don’t want anyone sorting anything at all for me. Give me all the raw data unsorted and me me sort it.
Putin Fanbois, in their onanistic worship of Putin, credit him with all sorts unlikely virtues.
Why even they would start talking up China is another question. Perhaps the fact that Putin is nearing the fortieth month of his "three day special military operation" in Ukraine is beginning, at least subconsciously, to take the bloom off his rose.
Google will use a few sites to get you an answer say like Wikipedia instead of the whole internet of sites.
Now wiki/google can make sure any question on who is the best president and their answer will be Joe Biden... instead of Donald Trump.
It will be like watching cbs, abc or nbc only.
You will never see the truth.
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