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Google wants you to think a certain way about vaccines, namely, that they are unilaterally “safe,” “good,” and that those who question these truths to be self-evident are a “burden,” or worse, on society — and its more than willing to distort and manipulate the world’s search results to make you think that way.
[NOTE: This article was originally published on July 31st 2019. Since publishing our investigative reports, Google has changed some of their unscrupulous practices, while also devising new ones, as reported in a recent update from April, 2023.]
Almost two months after it was revealed that Google scrubbed the pages of most natural health sites from its search results, a series of investigations have revealed that Google actively manipulates the minds and behaviors of its users, prejudicing them against looking for natural alternatives and questioning the safety and efficacy of vaccines. This is being done through the Search Engine Manipulation Effect (SEME), one of the most significant behavioral effects ever discovered, and which affects the thinking and behavior of literally billions around the globe.
The SEME is so powerful that a 2015 study evaluating voting preferences conducted by Epstein et al. found that biased search engine results could shift the preferences of undecided voters by ~20 percent, and up to 80 percent in some demographics. In fact, Epstein and his colleague’s research has revealed that Google’s SEME may have been a determining factor in a quarter of the world’s recent elections.
Recently, an undercover investigation by Project Veritas revealed that Google is aware of their influence on the elections, and is actively preparing to alter their course in the 2020 US presidential election.
Our focus, however, is on the way Google is leveraging the SEME to promote a set of self-serving socio-political and economic agendas which are diametrically opposed to our core mission of promoting the science of natural healing and your right to medical freedom and informed choice.
Previously, we’ve uncovered how Google actively disparages complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), such as chiropractic, naturopathy, and the use of vitamins, by populating their autocomplete suggestions with keywords no one is actually using. Since then, we have uncovered more concerning examples of these blatantly false distortions when it comes to questions concerning vaccine safety and efficacy.
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Google Wants You To Think ‘Anti-vaxxers Hurt The Economy’
Below, Google autocompletes the search terms “anti-vaxxers are…” with “anti-vaxxers are burdening the economy,” even though Google Trends, another Google product which tracks the volume of actual searches occurring on topics, shows that no one actually searches with these terms. This is significant because Google itself says their search autocomplete function results are not “suggestions” but “predictions” based upon real traffic.
Yet, Google Trends data shows that no one is searching “anti-vaxxers are burdening the economy.” And why would they? It’s not a question but an affirmative statement. It begs the question: who’s actually sitting at a desk somewhere at one of Google’s many sites with the authority and clearance to blatantly program their search functions with such ridiculously unrealistic and arbitrary autocomplete suggestions?
Google Wants You To Think ‘HPV Vaccines Are Safe For Your Child’
Here’s another example of Google autocompleting vaccine searches with phrases that no one are actually searching: “hpv vaccines are safe for your child”
Google Wants You To Think ‘Vaccines Are Good and Not Bad’
Another example is, “why vaccines are…”
The actual search trend data shows the phrase “why vaccines are bad” has a similar search volume as “why vaccines are good”
But when you drill down to states like Texas and California, you’ll show that “why vaccines are bad” versus “why vaccines are good,” constitutes 100% and 67% of the search volume, respectively.
Google Makes Other Suspicious and Blatantly False ‘Predictions’
Another strange and suspicious phrase Google preprogrammed into its autocomplete suggestions is “mandatory vaccines…”
Yet, Google trends shows that “mandatory vaccines in florida” is not a phrase people search.
Here is another classic example of how Google is trying to alter the narrative on the topic: “Vaccines cause…”
The reality is that people are far more likely to google “vaccines cause autism,” as proven by Google Trends:
For more examples of how Google’s autocomplete suggestions are generating false, and in some cases, dehumanizing and bigoted characterizations of those who advocate for greater vaccine transparency on risks and efficacy issues, view our previous article: INVESTIGATION: Google Manipulates Search Suggestions To Promote Pharma, Discredit Natural Health.
The Immense Power of the Search Engine Manipulation Effect
These results underscore a profound point that needs to be made about the highly biased nature of Google search. Despite widespread assumptions that Google’s results are a byproduct of objective algorithms beyond human bias, the so-called Search Engine Manipulation Effect is extremely powerful and reveals a highly human-biased agenda. As discussed in Esptein et al’s paper, “Suppressing the Search Engine Manipulation Effect (SEME)”:
“However, algorithms are human inventions, and as such, characteristic human elements – such as intentions, beliefs, and biases – inevitably influence their design and function [14, 113]. Recent research has shown that society’s growing dependence on ranking algorithms leaves our psychological heuristics and vulnerabilities susceptible to their influence on an unprecedented scale and in unexpected ways [11, 30, 69, 96, 114, 124]. For example, race and gender biases have been documented in the rankings of candidates in online job markets [55], and algorithms have been shown to learn similar biases from human generated text [14]. Experiments conducted on Facebook’s Newsfeed have demonstrated that subtle ranking manipulations can influence the emotional language people use [69], and user studies have shown that people are generally unaware that the Newsfeed is ranked at all [33, 35]. Similarly, experiments on web search have shown that manipulating election-related search engine rankings can shift the voting preferences of undecided voters by 20% or more after a single search [30].”
If what we have referenced above is true, Google has a very specific agenda towards suppressing vaccine safety and efficacy concerns, which very much aligns with its recent joint ventures with pharmaceutical companies, including Alphabet, Google’s parent company signing a $715 million dollar deal with GlaxoSmithKline to develop bioelectronic medicines and vaccines. This is just the tip of the iceberg, as Verily, Alphabet’s life science company (rebranded from Google X), is attempting to integrate Big Pharma’s interests into the mainstream by digitally overhauling the clinical trial business. Other vaccine-related projects Google is invested are: 1) the development of drone-delivered vaccines, and 2) a partnership with the U.K biotech Vaccitech, which is attempting to create a universal flu vaccine. To learn more about Google’s masterplan for healthcare, go here.
To learn more about the way that Google is censoring websites like our own who publish research and report on research that calls into question the narrative that all vaccines are safe and effective, read the following recent articles on the topic: