Remember a couple of months ago when a whole bunch of people thought that new 5G radiation masts were responsible for Coronavirus?
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The vast majority of us thought that that was stupid and now there’s an even stupider conspiracy that’s emerged linking the spread of Coronavirus with the Google search engine itself. It was apparently started by right wing commentator Jim Hoft on the ‘Gateway Pundit’ website, where he claimed that Google were pushing ‘panic porn Coronavirus headlines’ that fuelled the pandemic, but it quickly found an audience on Twitter and spread like wildfire.
Here’s a few of the hottest takes:
No it’s a big Scam. Search any three digit number “new cases” as in 666 new cases or 123 new cases. Try two and single numbers as 11 new cases or 7 new cases.
— Eric Welch (@elsfane) June 23, 2020
I dare you to search any three digit number and “new cases” and read those headlines
— Ryan Shaw (@ryvill21) June 23, 2020
Go on Google
Type any three digit number (100-999) then type “new cases”
Notice there’s headlines & articles for every single number you type?
Also notice how the articles have mostly all been published around the same time frame.
(same week in may – same week in june)
— Moe Othman (@MrMoeOthman) June 22, 2020
Ready for your mind to be blown?
Go to google and type in any three digit number, followed by the words “new cases.”
I mean ANY three digit number.
RT please.
— Relentless Truth ⭐⭐⭐ (@lebronsonroids) June 22, 2020
Are we being PLAYED by Google?
TRY this experiment now!….type ANY three digit number into Google followerd by the words “new cases”.
For example “431 new cases”. pic.twitter.com/l3DKoBHXQG
— BeachMilk (@BeachMilk) June 22, 2020
I mean that doesn’t even sound like it might be real to me when you think about it for just one second. Considering coronavirus is a global pandemic and there are millions of hyperlocal news sites covering small areas on the internet, it makes sense that there would be a bunch of different sites writing headlines about each and every outbreak/increase in death count. It’s not rocket science.
On top of this, some guy from Google came out at the start of the crisis and said that Google was pivoting to providing more news about Coronavirus through search because people were actively looking for more of it, and then went on to explain how search engine algorithms work in the first place in very basic terms so that everyone can understand.
Google’s Danny Sullivan announced that the search engine will be showing more COVID-19 local news content to meet the massive demand. https://t.co/i3rOwVOijf
— Edgy Labs (@edgydotapp) May 6, 2020
Here you can see it happening for a different type of “cases,” that is, suitcases. There are trillions of pages on the web with trillions more words and figures. It’s not hard to find matching pages for many different terms and figures. pic.twitter.com/my5FkO7kFN
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) June 22, 2020
If you search for words or figures, we try to show pages that have those words & figures. With 100,000s of pages from 1,000s of agencies with daily stat updates on COVID-19, you can search for most anything & get a match. Also works potato chips & no doubt many more terms. pic.twitter.com/0dzT6VL09H
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) June 22, 2020
Yeah, exactly – there’s no conspiracy theory here you freaking idiots. Quit whining about dumb shit on Twitter and go get a hobby or something.
For more of the same, check out the full extent of the 5G/Coronavirus conspiracy theory. So dumb.
