Technology Takeover

Technology has done so many incredible things for our society today. Through endless platforms, we can learn so much from and about the world around us. The information is never-ending and right at the tip of our fingers. A simple search on google can come up with about 4 billion results in 0.6 seconds. To have this type of information is incredible and quite honestly a privilege. It is incredible what one person can learn simply through technology. Youtube can show you how to change/replace anything on your car/lawnmower/stove/etc. in one simple tutorial video. You can practically travel the world from your computer through Google Earth. With Amazon, you can order a pack of gum and have it at your doorstep the very next day. Today’s technology is so advanced that it amazes me. Self-driving cars? Who would have thought? Most of the things that are possible with technology today, people could only imagine in this far away futuristic world. In this world everything was perfect and all the problems are solved. However, this is far from the truth. With this incredible technology, is it hurting us more than helping us? 

The internet: endless information. Let that sink in. There is so much to see and learn on the internet that can completely consume your life. You find yourself researching how to make a pie, then you are 2 hours into watching What Your Dog’s Sleeping Position Reveals About Your Dog. Is this information necessarily important? No. But do you now want to know what your dog's sleeping position means? Most likely yes. At least for me, I notice myself getting unnecessarily absorbed into the world of technology. I get distracted by it way too easily and end up spending an unnecessary amount of time on it. I will go on my phone to respond to a Snapchat or Text, then start tapping through Snapchat stories, then when I’m done with that I might go to Instagram, etc. The point is, it’s endless. You will never be able to watch all the youtube videos or all the Instagram pictures. I always say to myself, one more video or one more episode until it is 2 am and I just finished an entire TV Series. Now I am not saying that this happens to everyone, but it happens to more people than it should. Technology can be an incredible resource for so many things with the right amount of balance. 

Balancing your time with technology is not something that can happen overnight. Most of the things we do with our technology has become somewhat of a habit. I will wake up in the morning and spend about 20 minutes on my phone just checking up on what I missed and then start my day. I will do the same thing at night but it can be more consuming because I will most likely be on my phone or computer until my body is forcing my eyes shut. There is always more to see and the idea of not knowing makes me want to keep going. This scares me. I personally am the type of person who needs my time outside and with people. If I continue to let this technology rule my life I will miss out on so much more than I realize. People have forgotten how to live in the moment and see life for what it really is. We see all these amazing things through our screens but don’t think that we could experience it in real life. It is this alternate universe where everything is perfect, and if there is something we don't like, you can just click on the next video. 

There is so much I want to say about our society and how we abuse our technology and how it has taken over. I love all the incredible things it has done for our world and how much good it has done. However, it has also hurt our society so much and can end up doing more harm than good if certain information is put in the wrong hands. Anyone who has used technology in the developed world (which is almost everyone) has some sort of personal information about them online, even if it is something as simple as their name. This can connect you to your home address, phone number, what organizations you are a part of, or who you support depending on what you like, etc. Again, endless information. If this doesn’t scare you yet, imagining all the information you have put online, maybe not even knowing how much there is about you, in the hands of the wrong person or even country. Once something has been posted, there is no way of knowing who can or will see it. There are so many privacy scams that it is hard to trust most technology. If I were to give any advice on how to survive the world of technology, be smart, be balanced, and be aware.

https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-disadvantages-of-using-technology

https://uhs.berkeley.edu/balancing-technology-and-health

https://educateempowerkids.org/4381-2/

https://www.youtube.com/

https://www.intego.com/mac-security-blog/top-10-online-scams-watch-out-for-these-common-red-flags/

https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=ALeKk030zVZAQRI1DCLu47K627DROFmTJA%3A1588434942068&ei=_petXo7eA-PrtQaw6bzwBA&q=laws&oq=laws&gs_lcp=CgZwc3ktYWIQAzIECAAQRzIECAAQRzIECAAQRzIECAAQRzIECAAQRzIECAAQRzIECAAQRzIECAAQR1AAWABg4jZoAHACeACAAQCIAQCSAQCYAQCqAQdnd3Mtd2l6&sclient=psy-ab&ved=0ahUKEwiO1eGjxZXpAhXjdc0KHbA0D04Q4dUDCAw&uact=5

https://childmind.org/article/is-social-media-use-causing-depression/

The Flaws of Main Stream Media

Main Stream Media is something that most people today are exposed to on a daily basis or are at least familiar with. A lot of people have mistrust in mainstream media for the information that is told is not always true. This happens when most of the media outlets are owned by most of the same few companies. There used to be about 50 companies that own all the news outlets. These range from newspapers, news shows, magazines, radio stations, etc. These companies used to all have their own that could fill all of the news outlets. However, today there are only 5 companies that own all of these news outlets.

Having only 5 companies own all of the stations that give out our information and news stories might sound nice, but, it is quite dangerous. This gives them the power to show only what they want to show. This can limit the amount of information we receive and even which information we receive. The editors can decide what they want to expose the population to, making it hard for them to be trustworthy. This can greatly affect the trust in people or even shape our beliefs. If the information we receive is controlled then it can change the way we think. 

These 5 companies or, “The Big Five”, own all of the news stations that give out the information we hear from all of our news stations. They all have their own beliefs and opinions on the information they receive and they are going to portray that information in a way that makes it look better for them. All of these companies (Comcast, The Walt Disney Company, News Corporation, Warner Media - AT&T, and ViacomCBS) have the power to warp the way we think about things. Now I am not necessarily saying that they are using their power for this, but who is to say what information they are withholding from us.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mainstream_media

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_media

https://www.conservapedia.com/Mainstream_media

https://smallbusiness.chron.com/mainstream-vs-alternative-media-21113.html

Echo Chamber Effect

There are many dangers in today’s world that threaten the individuality of people and who they are. Some of them we don’t even recognize that we have been trapped in. One of the threats is getting caught in an echo chamber. This might not sound like much but it can take away creativity, free-thinking, and you don’t always realize it.

An echo chamber normally happens when you are hearing the same information over and over again whether it is from people you know or over the internet. This information normally coincides with what you believe and supports your argument. The danger of this is when all you hear is an opinion that you agree with. This can falsely twist someone's viewpoint in showing them only what they want to see. By doing this, they don’t get to really have ideas for their own for there is nothing for them to argue against, hear contrary beliefs, or even just learn about an opposing view. 

The thing about echo chambers that is so dangerous is that you don’t always know when you are in one. They can happen anywhere at any time. It is, however, more commonly seen online. It is easier to find information and people that share the same beliefs and thoughts as you making things not as accurate as they seem. There are many more echo chambers online because of this and it is a lot easier to fall into one unknowingly.

If you are worried about being in an echo chamber, it is not the hardest thing to figure out. You need to overlook the information and figure out if there are opposing views or if it is all the same information, or if there is only one point of view. You also need to make sure that all of the information is actually true and researched, not rumor based. This is normally what echo chambers might include. It is so easy to check several sources of news, information, or other areas to find different viewpoints or perspectives. This will not only help you to strengthen your own beliefs but make it easier to defend your viewpoint because you are well rounded with the information you know. This is not always the easiest because not everything you want will always be right, but it will help you better understand your surroundings and the whole world around you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Se20RoB331w

https://theconversation.com/the-problem-of-living-inside-echo-chambers-110486

https://edu.gcfglobal.org/en/digital-media-literacy/what-is-an-echo-chamber/1/

What Privacy?

The definition of privacy is: "the state or condition of being free from being observed or disturbed by other people” (https://www.google.com/search?q=privacy+definition&oq=privac&aqs=chrome.2.69i57j0l6j69i60.2592j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8). It seems fairly simple, you get to live your life without anyone being in your business. You might think you get this through all of your online accounts or just day to day living. However, it is not possible to live a completely private life in today’s world. From street cameras to online account to other people’s phones, your life will never be completely private. 

It never quite occurred to me how much information could be collected on me by just driving my car somewhere. If it is not tracked by my GPS, then someone could have gotten me on their phone, or street camera or even a camera on a cop's car. I can be tracked going to the grocery store and not even know it. This might not seem like a huge deal until you are tracked everywhere you go and the government starts making a profile of where you go and what you are doing even if you didn’t do anything wrong. 

Facial recognition is one of the biggest things that makes me uneasy. When I was working on some photographs one day in iPhoto I noticed a section called faces. I hadn’t paid much attention to it until I saw a closeup image of my face. I clicked on it out of curiosity and started to play around with it. I added in a couple names to some faces then it scanned ALL of my photos within a matter of seconds and matched up all the faces to the names that I had just put in. I was utterly stunned. While I was very impressed (even though it was not 100% accurate), I was also nervous. What else could it do if my computer can not only just show me a picture but who is in it and where it was taken. Cool…but scary.

Privacy was not much I had thought about until I got Instagram. I make an effort to make sure all my accounts are private and I know who follows me. This way I feel safer about what I post and who sees it. It’s my life I should be able to control it, right? Wrong. While a lot of social media accounts promise privacy from other people, they collect information about you in order to know what you like and don't like. With this data, they collect and use it to use for advertising and other things. The idea that my computer or phone might know more about me than I do myself does not make me feel totally comfortable.  While I did not touch on every aspect of our security and lifestyles, who’s to say what they are listening to, not only through our phone calls but simply from our pockets as well.

Privacy in a Public World

In today’s society, being socially active is not uncommon. Most people I know all have at least one platform of social media from Facebook to Instagram to twitter and the list goes on. Even something as simple as having a website is showing your presence online. While I do not normally consider myself to have much of an online footprint, I can definitely say it is bigger than some. 

As for websites, I created one a couple years ago for business use. My initial goal was to be able to sell some of my artwork off of it. I created it for professional use giving out my name and email. I chose not to include my phone number because I felt like that would be too personal. In the end, I never really used the website but I also never took it down. 

I also use a few other social media sites for entertainment but also communication. I personally have Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat,. Instagram and Snapchat are definitely the top two sites I use. I use Instagram to mainly share artsy pictures I take and the accomplishments or videos I have made. This is probably my most personal account. If someone were to look at it, they could get a general idea of what my life is like. They would see what I like to do, where I have traveled, some of my friends and pets, and what I look like. While they might have all these pictures, I only have my shared my first name. I do not put my number or email on any of my sites or my last name. As for Facebook, I only created an account for school purposes and used my nickname to not give out too much information. 

Personal information to me is anything other than my first name, and sometimes even that. I have a backup email that I use for snap mail and things such as social media accounts. Normally you cannot create an account without an email or number. This is when I use my backup email. While I might give out this email for certain sites or social media, I would never give them my password for it. When entering the world of social media, it is hard to control what is posted or seen about you by other people and knowing who can use your information. It is always better to be safe than sorry when it comes to what you post because even if it is deleted, it is never truly gone.

I believe that social media definitely has its perks and downsides. While it is a great way to show what you have accomplished or show-off where you have traveled, etc., it can also bring others down. I have seen the different ways social media has effected so many people I know. Some positively and a lot negatively. People mostly only post good things in life showing only that side. This can make people jealous or want that “perfect” life that people advertise through their accounts. They want everything they see and don’t have and then can’t appreciate what they do have. It has almost become a competition for who can have the coolest life shown through their social media. While this is not everyone’s story or idea on social media, everyone is effected by it in different ways and it might not always be positive.

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/04/facebook-asked-some-users-for-their-email-passwords-because-why-not/

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-03/millions-of-facebook-records-found-on-amazon-cloud-servers?srnd=premium

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/01/facebook-users-still-dont-know-how-facebook-works/580546/

https://www.fastcompany.com/90315706/kids-parents-social-media-sharing

Diffusion of Innovations and Snapchat

The Diffusion of Innovation is a theory of how communication spreads. A small number of people adapt to new inventions of communication and these early adopters are one of the elements that can make or break these new platforms. With more users, there will be more chance of success. One of the more recent and successful innovations for online communications is Snapchat.

Snapchat has spread rapidly throughout the world within the first few years of its debut. With a bit of a slow start, the early adopters were the ones who really made it take off. While Snapchat is a source of communication, you need other users to talk to. This is another way in how Snapchat thought ahead. With the need for other users, these early adopters would send invitations to their friends to join. They all talk amongst themselves making the number of users increase dramatically. As more and more users join, the early majority of users hit the tipping point. The tipping point is when the majority of the users have already joined and the only people left to joiner the late adopters and the laggards. For Snapchat, these people tend to be kids who have turned the age where they can get the app for themselves and start using it (or parents who have been introduced to it by their kids-the early adopters).

The downsides of this technology, Snapchat, can vary from person to person. The most common downside of Snapchat is normally time consumption. People will spend more time than needed on this app and they will keep going back to it because there is always stuff to do on it. You are drawn in by not only talking to your friends but also watching what they are doing with their lives through their stories. While this helps to keep the app alive and very popular it has changed the way people have chosen to communicate with other people and maybe even distracted them from the world around them. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffusion_of_innovations

https://www.oberlo.com/blog/snapchat-statistics

https://www.omnicoreagency.com/snapchat-statistics/

Promoting Individualism

7. Promote Innovation — see Jack Balkin, Living Originalism

A community in which free speech is valued and protected is likely to be a more energized, creative, interesting society as its citizens actively fulfill themselves in many diverse and interesting ways.

Freedom of speech is not something that can be found everywhere in the world. It is, however, one of the founding principals of America. Because of this, America tends to be more informed and has more open communication between its people. We the people of America can speak freely because there is no threat from governmental repercussions. 

Of the Eight Values of Free Expression, the seventh value stands out the most. It stresses the importance of freedom within a community to create happiness and creativity. With the freedom our country has given us, individuals are more inspired to speak freely of themselves and their beliefs. I think that this is inspiring because it allows people to think for themselves and express their thoughts. Living in a community where you can think for yourself enables creative thinkers which build even more pronounced creativity. If an individual can share their thoughts and ideas, it gives an opportunity for others to build off of those ideas. 

The Renaissance era is a great example of how people learn to build off each other's ideas to create better art. Today in our technical society, some might overlook art as being meaningful. However, the free flow of ideas during this time period reflects perfectly what a “more energized, creative, interesting society” would look like. These artists all grew off of each other's visions and styles and interpreted them in their own ways. This is what freedom of creativity/speech looks like and encourages. When you are surrounded by different thoughts and perspectives, you are able to grow off them and you’re own perceptions become endless. 

While this might sound perfect, we are humans meaning nothing is absolute. This means that there are some restrains to speech. One example would include not being able to yell “fire” in a movie theatre. While this is a very simple and well-known example, there is also the sad through of political correctness. In other words, political correctness inhibits people from the actual truths about their surroundings. This discourages people from hearing the whole truth keeping them from being able to fully think for themselves. In extreme conditions, this can even lead to a lack of understanding about the world around you and how people could lean towards communism.

Communism and the freedom of speech are on opposite ends of the spectrum. A country ruled by communism has no freedom of speech. Its citizens are under the government's speech regulations often leading to a community living in fear of their own thoughts. For example, Venezuela just went under strong communist rule and its country and economy has been going downhill ever since. Televisions and radio stations were taken over by the government and were limited to what they could talk about leaving the people with very biased information. With this extreme censorship and fear of speech freedom, it has created a “brain drain” (https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2017/12/28/press-freedom-is-dying-in-venezuela/#5bd6016b58ce) to its citizens. This means that the original "thinkers" of the country flee leaving the economy with only followers. These followers lack the originalism and creativity that might otherwise be there with freedom of speech and expression.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2017/12/28/press-freedom-is-dying-in-venezuela/#5bd6016b58ce

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-36319877

https://www.cpusa.org/article/hands-off-venezuela/

https://medlawlit.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_9.html

What is Youtube?

Youtube is a very useful tool in today’s society for not only entertainment and learning new things but as a communication tool as well. At first, youtube was very small and did not start off as successful. After a Nike commercial hit over one million views, Youtube really started to take off. This growth was very rapid and more and more users started to get on the new trend. This is how Youtube started its upward climb that continues to this day.

Youtube is a great tool that really anyone could use and benefit from. The idea is simple and it is very simple to use so more people are urged to use it. While some people might think that Youtube is just for trendy vloggers, there is so much more to it. Yes, there are many platforms of entertainment including the classic vloggers, but there are also so many other videos about education, politics, tutorials, music, etc. There is an endless amount of options out there. 

Youtubers (aka vloggers) have found a way to get paid through the making of their videos. Through each view, they get they are paid a certain amount. The videos are normally for entertainment, however, some people do makeup tutorials, life advice, or even life hacks. They make a living by communicating or sharing their life with anyone that wants to see. There are so many great things you can learn from Youtube, from how to change your oil or what’s going on in politics. There are an endless amount of options on Youtube and you can find it so easily.

The impact is incredible with how easy it is to access and work. Youtube can give so much more information than you'd expect. While it is very informative, youtube can also be very distracting. You might be looking for one video about curling hair and end up an hour into watching videos and you are now watching puppies playing. While this might not be the worst thing, Youtube is very consuming of time if you let it be, and maybe that is the point of it. 

https://www.themycenaean.org/2015/11/youtubes-impact-on-our-society/ 

https://www.webwise.ie/parents/what-is-youtube/

https://www.engadget.com/2016/11/10/the-history-of-youtube/

https://interestingengineering.com/youtube-its-history-and-impact-on-the-internet 

Communication & Social Media

Social media has made a huge impact on today's society. From Facebook to Snapchat, there are so many ways to use social media as a way to communicate with not only one person but with a countless amount of people. You can decide who you want to communicate with and how many you want to. This creates endless opportunities to share what you want with the world. Each social media has its own niche while all in the realms of communication. 

Facebook, being one of the oldest platforms of social media, has most of the essentials. It started as a place to share photos and videos, and now you can text, video chat, repost other’s pictures or videos and many more perks. Instagram is very similar to Facebook in the aspect of sharing pictures. Both of these platforms use the aspect of photos as a source of communication. They share these photos and use captions and comments as a way for people to communicate through pictures/videos. While this is a very simplistic explanation of what these social media platforms can do there is so much more to it and they are improving more and more with time. As they improve, they increase the amount of communication and gives more options for what you can do.

Snapchat and Twitter are other platforms of communication that are a huge part of today's younger generation. With the simplicity of 24-hour pictures and different filters, Snapchat has brought in people that become daily users from some of their applications. From news stories to streaks and more, Snapchat is very fun to use. Snapchat can be used for talking to individual people, friend groups, or even just sharing a cool picture from the day with different stickers or filters. Twitter is more about sharing brief thoughts or pictures/videos. It’s about sharing with people close to you (your followers) about something that happened in life. All of these use communication in their own unique way. While they might seem vastly different, they all have the same purpose of communicating with the people around you.

https://circaedu.com/hemj/how-social-media-changed-the-way-we-communicate/

https://www.hrzone.com/community/blogs/samdavtyan/use-snapchat-as-an-internal-communication-tool

https://smallbusiness.chron.com/facebook-helps-communicate-66432.html

The First Newspaper

In 1690 of September, Richard Pierce published the first newspaper in American history. It was first and only printed in Boston with the help of Benjamin Harris as the editor before it got shut down. It was intended to be a monthly paper, but authorities shut him down before a second one was ever printed. Authorities did not like what Richard Pierce was printing and the freedom of the press was nonexistent at this point so they had the power to shut it down.

When April of 1704 came around, John Campbell published the first issue of the Boston News-Letter. This was America's first official weekly newspaper. This newspaper ranged from ship arrivals to English politics. One of their most compelling stories was about the death of the famous Pirate Black Beard and how he died in hand to hand combat. However, the paper never really made much money. It was not until 1732 when John Draper took over the paper and reedited it in hopes to make more profit.

By December of 1719, two more papers came out, one more in Boston (The Boston Gazette) and one in Philadelphia (The American Weekly Mercury). Over the next couple of decades, many other cities and states got their own newspapers. By 2003 “more than 54 million newspapers were sold daily” and even more were sold on Sundays. This alone shows how much of an impact this simple idea made. 

People everyday used the newspaper as a source of information and communication. With daily updates on current events, people would buy their daily copies to keep up on local and worldwide events. The newspaper was so crucial to people during this time because it was the only real source of news. People did not have televisions or radios to be kept up to date on what is happening in not only their city but around the world. When the first paper came out, it was only 3 pages long. To date, the papers have grown to a minimum of roughly 30  pages to a maximum of about 100 pages. With time, there is more information to tell and more section of it. People now not only use the paper for information but for entertainment as well (the comic strip, travel section, etc.)

Newspapers have covered the full spectrum from local stories about families to the Wall Street Journal that cover business angles on world events. The newspaper was such a crucial part of people's everyday lives and the only source of news until the radio came about. With increased digital competition it is becoming less important. With all the different news shows and radio stations, even the internet, the newspaper seems to be coming to its end. It was not until 2003, that the newspaper industry really started its decline. This was when people became more comfortable with the internet and news channels on tv.

http://www.paperage.com/issues/nov_dec2004/11_2004newspapers.pdf

http://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/revolut/jb_revolut_newspap_1.html

https://www.varsitytutors.com/earlyamerica/firsts/americas-first-newspaper

The Invasion of Communication Technology

In today's society, technology has made its impact on the world and it keeps growing and "improving" every day. High tech communication technology has grown so much to the point that it can perform as well as humans and in some places, outperform them. As technology becomes more a part of our everyday life, do we need to question if it is all good?

Chatbots are a technology that works in place of an assistant for customer service. They communicate with customers to help with solutions for navigating websites and handling complaints. They are so intelligent that some customers do not even realize they are talking with a machine, “they are beyond humans in terms of tasking”. 

AI-based assistance is another set of technology that has made a huge impact on people's everyday lives. This is more commonly known as something like Siri or Alexa. These devices assist people in their everyday chores and quests for information. They are programmed with endless information, however, it is hard to completely know what these devices are listening for. AI communication is said to “replace at least 50 percent of human communication jobs worldwide”. While this might seem like a negative, there will most likely be more job openings to be created by this. 

Other new technologies such as Google Duplex, 5G and 6G, Blockchain, VR and AR, IoT, and LiFi are all new and are being created to make life easier and quicker. However, because these technologies are so new, we do not know enough about them to know how much they will really help. Having these devices in our everyday lives could become a silent invasion of privacy. We are giving up certain privacy when using these technologies and while they might be helping us with a simple task, how can we be assured that the collection of this massive amount of data won’t be used against the user's disadvantage.

http://techgenix.com/business-communication/

Supreme Court

The U.S. Supreme Court is made up of people who only try court cases that have reached the highest level. Depending on the case, the Supreme Court is normally the last resort. About 8,000 cases are filed for Supreme Court but only about 100 or less actually go through. Because this is one of the three coequal branches of the government, it was started with the founding of our country. 

People whose cases go to the Supreme Court go there because they have exhausted every other appeal in the other courts. These cases can be anything. People who normally make it to the Supreme Court are there because they are not happy with the turn out from the other courts. What makes a case stand out to be heard but the Supreme Court is Certiorari. This means that they only agree to hear what they think is most important. These cases are most likely about controversial constitutional issues such as religion and public schools. 

The judges in the Supreme Court are the most pristine in the country, maybe even the world. To become a judge for the Supreme Court, one must be nominated by the president and confirmed by a majority of the senators. Once they have been appointed, they are a Supreme Court judge until they die or resign. This idea of lifelong power raises some questions. The fact that these judges are allowed to serve and make such important decisions into their elderly years, can make one question their decision making. With people living longer, some of these judges have been serving for 30 or more years. They get to the ages that bring up the question of whether they are mentally capable of making such important decisions for our country. Should there be a sanity test at a certain age or should it be left alone? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWRoXYRsaeo&feature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ca8qSuWxcG8&feature=youtu.be

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_Supreme_Court_Justices_by_time_in_office 

https://www.thoughtco.com/how-do-cases-reach-supreme-court-4113827 

Can We Trust Google?

                                 

A large struggle in today's society is finding unbiased news or even basic information. There is no say in when this all happened but information is hard to be trusted from anywhere anymore. If a website or news show holds information because they do not agree with its perspective is in a way lying to your audience. Google is the largest used search tool that is used by millions of people worldwide every day. People trust Google to give them access to all information on any subject they search, not just one-sided pieces of information.

In the most recent presidential election of 2016, the search results on Google have been claimed to be biased. Google was in favor of Hillary Clinton and manipulated the views of people who wanted to learn about the election. One of the biggest issues that Dr. Robert Epstein (democrat, a supporter of Hillary Clinton) discovered was the “very dramatic bias in Google’s search results” after comparing it to Bing and Yahoo. The results were strongly in favor of Hillary Clinton and ended up swaying lots of votes during the election. This happened when people who were unsure of who to vote or just wanting information would go to Google for answers and the results would make one candidate appear extremely more positively than the other. Epstein researched after the election “that the level of bias was sufficient…to have shifted over time somewhere between 2.6 and 10.4 million votes to Hillary without anyone knowing that this had occurred”.

Some people might not understand the gravity of this. Google, being the biggest and most used search engine, should be a trusted place to find any sort of information. Having claimed to be an unbiased information source, Google has violated the First Amendment. While this protects the freedom of speech and of the press, if you claim to be unbiased, then you are obligated to do that. The freedom of speech allows you to advertise for something/someone freely, however, if you claim to be unbiased, then it is a violation of the first amendment. There is nothing wrong with supporting someone and advertising for them unless you are claimed as unbiased. 

This could also be seen as poor communication for you are not fully satisfying your readers with the information they need. Thousands of people everyday use Google for basic information and if some of it is biased, then who is to know what is true or not. 

https://www.foxnews.com/media/google-bias-search-results-trump-clinton-epstein-levin