Is Google Confused on Difference Between Socialism and Capitalism?
14th August 2020
Wouldn’t surprise me.
Recent questionable search results show Google appearing to conflate the opposing terms socialism and capitalism. A Google search for “socialism and racism” shows that Google may be confused about the definition of socialism. When the search is completed, Google includes results for “capitalism and racism” by default, forcing the user to click another link in order to show results only for the initial query, “socialism and racism.” The “including results from” feature is often used when search terms are misspelled. It will include search results for the original term and the suggested alternative by default. This results in a better user experience without the user having to correct the error and start the search over. Several years ago, some users noticed that Google was offering more navigational suggestions using this feature. For example, a search for “face” would include results for “Facebook,” and a search for “pint” would include results for “Pinterest.” It is unclear why Google would choose to include results for “capitalism and racism” when a search is conducted for “socialism and racism.”