Google's Top Stories Promoted Misinformation About the Las Vegas Shooting From 4Chan [Updated]

["Dave Farber" <farber () gmail com>]

> https://gizmodo.com/googles-top-stories-promoted-misinformation-about-the-l-1819053288 
> <https://gizmodo.com/googles-top-stories-promoted-misinformation-about-the-l-1819053288>
>
> Google's Top Stories Promoted Misinformation About the Las Vegas Shooting From 4Chan [Updated]
>
> Melanie Ehrenkranz <//kinja.com/melaniehannah>
>
> On Sunday night, a gunman killed more than 50 people 
> <https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/10/02/us/mandalay-bay-vegas-shooting.html?mcubz=1> at a country music 
> festival outside the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. On Monday morning, authorities identified 
> <https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/las-vegas-shooting/stephen-paddock-las-vegas-shooting-suspect-identified-n806471> 
> the gunman as Stephen Paddock. But in an episode that has become sadly familiar in the immediate aftermath of such 
> tragedies, amateur sleuths on 4chan incorrectly identified the shooter as another man—and this time Google helped 
> signal boost their misinformation.
>
>
> As BuzzFeed’s Ryan Broderick first pointed out on Twitter 
> <https://twitter.com/broderick/status/914807674025512961?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fkinja.com%2Fajax%2Finset%2Fiframe%3Fid%3Dtwitter-914807674025512961%26autosize%3D1>,
>  when you entered a Google search for “Geary Danley” this morning, the site displayed links to 4chan’s pol 
> (politically incorrect) message board in its Top Stories section wrongly identifying him as the shooter. Mashable was 
> able to replicate the result <http://mashable.com/2017/10/02/google-algorithm-fail-las-vegas-gunman-fake-news/>, but 
> the links no longer appear in the module. We have reached out to Google for comment.
>
> For far-right pages like pol, incorrectly identifying Danley as the shooter was politically convenient. As a 
> (since-deleted <https://twitter.com/broderick/status/914811596886757376>) Gateway Pundit article stated, Danley is 
> “Reportedly a Democrat Who Liked Rachel Maddow, MoveOn.org and Associated with Anti-Trump Army” based on information 
> gleaned from his Facebook page.
>
> One might assume that the carousel of stories at the top of your Google search would be the most relevant and 
> credible links based on their query, but to make that very reasonable assumption would be a mistake. The criteria for 
> what gets a spot in the highly-coveted space remains vague. The links certainly don’t have to be factually accurate, 
> given that a climate change denial story has appeared in the module 
> <https://gizmodo.com/google-says-its-job-is-to-promote-climate-change-conspi-1793567621#_ga=2.91602526.517469636.1506945799-774642885.1491417459>.
>  And it’s also evident that the system can be gamed. In February, a LinkedIn blogger wrote over 150 articles about 
> how to stream the Super Bowl consisting of nonsensical strings of keywords aimed at fooling Google’s search 
> algorithm. It worked 
> <https://gizmodo.com/super-bowl-spammer-tricks-googles-top-stories-module-1792025423#_ga=2.132650698.517469636.1506945799-774642885.1491417459>.
>
>
> Today, Google helped further the agenda of the far-right by promoting their threads misidentifying the gunman. If the 
> search giant comments at all, it will likely blame the mishap on an improperly audited algorithm. But as people turn 
> to Google’s search bar for information on the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history, the tech behemoth has a 
> responsibility to ensure its users aren’t being led astray by a bunch of neo-Nazis.
>
> Update 12:15pm: A Google spokesperson provided the following statement:
>
> “Unfortunately, early this morning we were briefly surfacing an inaccurate 4chan website in our Search results for a 
> small number of queries. Within hours, the 4chan story was algorithmically replaced by relevant results. This should 
> not have appeared for any queries, and we’ll continue to make algorithmic improvements to prevent this from happening 
> in the future.”
>
> [Ryan Broderick/Twitter 
> <https://twitter.com/broderick/status/914807674025512961/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fkinja.com%2Fajax%2Finset%2Fiframe%3Fid%3Dtwitter-914807674025512961%26autosize%3D1>]



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