Google is filtering news for the wrong reason: opinion

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA - SEPTEMBER 02: The new Google logo is displayed on a sign outside of the Google headquarters on September 2, 2015 in Mountain View, California. Google has made the most dramatic change to their logo since 1999 and have replaced their signature serif font with a new typeface called Product Sans. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images/AFP == FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY ==

We've known for a long time that Google makes content decisions, but recent moves in the direction of censorship are going too far. Unfortunately, it's hard to imagine a regulatory backlash given Google's victims: websites that no mainstream politician will defend. 

Eric Schmidt, the executive chairman of Google's parent company, Alphabet, told a conference on Nov 20 the company was working to engineer RT and Sputnik, the Russian propaganda channels, out of the Google News aggregator. “We don’t want to ban the sites,” Schmidt said. “That’s not how we operate. I am strongly not in favour of censorship. I am very strongly in favour of ranking. It’s what we do.”