Google criticised for social search move

Thursday, 12 January 2012

Google criticised for social search move

by Marc Pinter-Krainer

Internet giant Google has attracted fierce criticism over its new "Search Plus your World" feature which lists its own social networking information prominently amongst search results

Google has been criticised for its recent changes to its Internet search service.

Ranking favours?
"Search plus Your World", which Google introduced earlier this week, lists information from its own "Google Plus" social network at prominent positions on its search results pages.

Results from Google Plus are automatically pushed up the search rankings, at the expense of other websites and social networking services.

Fight for market share in social media
Industry insiders described the move as a strike against rivals Facebook and Twitter as Google is seeking to increase the market share of its own social network.

Antitrust and privacy concerns
Google's new social search addition has been criticised by industry leaders and consumer organisations over potential antitrust and privacy issues.

Privacy watchdog The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) said it will likely file a complaint to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) taking Google to task over its new social search service.

In an official blog post, EPIC complained about the privacy implications of Google's latest addition:

"Although data from a user’s Google+ contacts is not displayed publicly, Google’s changes make the personal data of users more accessible", EPIC stated.

Antitrust
EPIC also voiced antitrust concerns over the search giant's latest addition.

Referring to ongoing antitrust investigations by competition authorities on both sides of the Atlantic, EPIC's blog post continued:

"Google's changes come at a time when the company is facing increased scrutiny over whether it distorts search results by giving preference to its own content."

EPIC executive director Marc Rotenberg told the Los Angeles Times: "Google is an entrenched player trying to fight off its challenger Facebook by using its market dominance in a separate sector,"

"I think that should trouble people," Rotenberg added.

His comments come as the Federal Trade Commission, attorneys general in six U.S. states, and the European Commission are looking into complaints alleging Google has been unfairly exploiting its dominance in online search to promote its own services at the expense of its rivals.

Criticism from Twitter
Social networking firm Twitter also complained about Google's latest "Search plus Your World" addition.

Twitter's lawyer Alex Macgillivray described it as a "bad day for the internet," expressing concerns that "as a result of Google's changes, finding [relevant] information will be much harder for everyone. We think that's bad for people, publishers, news organisations and Twitter users."

Firing back at Twitter, Google said: "We are a bit surprised by Twitter's comments, because they chose not to renew their agreement with us last summer."

"Since then we have observed their rel=nofollow instructions," Google said, referring to a technical barrier which makes it difficult for Google to rank Twitter information.

Manipulating ranking
The latest wave of criticism comes as Google should be especially sensitive to charges of manipulating content.

Earlier this month, Google purposely demoted search results for its Chrome internet browser, after it was revealed that the company appeared to have paid for sponsored posts promoting it, violating its own rules in that way.

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