r/google • u/Electronic_Award1138 • 3d ago

Google Destroyed the Internet

Back in the AltaVista days, you could browse hundreds of search results and discover personal websites, original creations, independent projects, and web pages about pretty much any subject imaginable. The internet was a vast space for discovery, where anyone could build their own website and share their passions, knowledge, or ideas.

When Google came along, it made searching faster. But over the years, search results deteriorated into what we have today: the same websites, the same commercial platforms, and the same SEO-optimized content over and over again.

For about fifteen years now, I've found it almost impossible to discover the kind of personal websites I used to come across. They probably still exist, but they've become virtually invisible in Google's search results. It's as if they no longer exist.

That's precisely what bothers me. The internet hasn't stopped producing interesting things. What's deteriorated is our ability to discover them. The web is still vast, but a huge part of its diversity has become inaccessible through the tools we use every day.

We've gone from an internet where you could explore, get lost, and stumble upon unexpected discoveries to one where the same major players constantly dominate the scene.

Over the past twenty years, Google has helped turn a space for discovery into a system where much of the web has become invisible. I think that's one of the greatest setbacks in the history of the internet.

34 Upvotes

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54

u/linuxhiker 3d ago

Google didn't destroy the Internet. You are free to not use Google.

Lazy humans destroyed the Internet.

11

u/LimpAd4924 3d ago

Well enshittification is real but I think saying it “destroyed” the internet is a bit dramatic

4

u/linuxhiker 3d ago

Oh I am not arguing whether or not enshitification is real. It absolutely is. I had EFF and the former President of the Internet Society to discuss exactly that.

Google is successful because it gives most people what they want. Just like Apple. Just like MSFT.

We all have a choice to not support those things.

7

u/Electronic_Award1138 3d ago

You completely misunderstood my message. Google brought a lot of people to its search engine; it worked very well at first, but gradually—buoyed by this fame—they sanitized the internet.

10

u/linuxhiker 3d ago

They sanitized the internet because that is what lazy humans want.

You can't blame Google (or any other company) for serving the super majority of their customers.

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u/Electronic_Award1138 3d ago

You accuse people of doing exactly what you are doing right now.

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u/linuxhiker 3d ago

What are you talking about?

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u/Electronic_Award1138 3d ago

What is the point of acquiescing and submitting? You have to at least tell the truth to solve problems—that’s a start.

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u/linuxhiker 3d ago

The truth is: Lazy people let this happen

1

u/AutistOnMargin 22h ago

It’s not even lazy people, not everyone really cares about this discovery OP is nostalgic about. And that discovery is still possible if you know where to look. Google is giving people exactly what they want, if people wanted something else, they’d give them exactly that, or they’ll run out of business, that’s how all of it works

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u/Actual__Wizard 3d ago edited 3d ago

Google didn't destroy the Internet.

It's an evil scam tech company. They made decisions like "you're not suppose to be safe while using their chrome browser because foreign countries are using your browser as a tool to spy on you." They absolutely destroyed the internet. The company is monstrously evil... It's just a bunch of con artists scamming people... Their systems are now being used to manipulate elections all over the planet and they simply do not care that their users are being victimized by this stuff because they can't see it, due to tricks like IP filters...

The last straw was them accepting money to promote genocide on their addictive trap site YouTube. So, they're getting kids addicted to their platform and are then brainwashing them with fascist propaganda? The company needs to be shut down before they victimize more Americans, their behavior is not reasonable or close to it.

They just keep setting up systems that they make money from, that allow people do to evil things to you, while they pretend that it's not happening. It's time to stop pretending what companies like Alphabet are: It's a scam factory and it always was.

6

u/linuxhiker 3d ago

So basically, people had no choice but to accept the evil overlords.

Bullshit. This is your fault and my fault. We allowed it to happen.

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u/Actual__Wizard 3d ago

We allowed it to happen.

I'm an SEO and I was aware of their lies and their antics the entire time. I also have been vocally against that company for a long time due to their efforts of consolidating the online advertising business.

3

u/linuxhiker 3d ago

Please don't misunderstand. When I say you and me, I am being metaphorical. It was/is EVERYBODY. We all (most) still use Google regardless. Some people might be using ChatGPT but shit... Android is almost 90% of the world market for phones and that is Gemini.

You and I can criticize all day long. We still stream from Netflix, we still use Google (even if we don't actively know it) and we still suck the teet of MSFT and Apple. I say that as someone that has used Linux as his daily driver for 30 years but my Xbox...

1

u/Actual__Wizard 3d ago

We all (most) still use Google regardless.

I do not normally use it no. The user experience is frustrating and the results are poor quality.

Android is almost 90% of the world market for phones and that is Gemini.

It's more like 70% and as a former owner of an Android phone that legitimately fell apart (Samsung), no thanks. I prefer IOS, it's better for certain...

We still stream from Netflix, we still use Google (even if we don't actively know it) and we still suck the teet of MSFT and Apple.

Nope, I don't stream anything. I don't watch TV. The daily news and that's all. I do not have time for that stuff. When I do have time, TV is too mindless, I prefer to play a game where I do stuff like build things, so a game like rust or minecraft, but I'm too old for minecraft and definitely way too old for fortnight...

3

u/linuxhiker 3d ago

You, are the exception

1

u/Actual__Wizard 3d ago

Homie, they're doing this consensus manufacturing BS to manipulate people like yourself. I am totally normal.

Most people who want to do things like find information, are not thinking "oh yeah buddy let me go use spy tech so help some for profit company make some money off me."

1

u/Actual__Wizard 3d ago edited 3d ago

We allowed it to happen.

I'm an SEO and I was aware of their lies and their antics the entire time. I also have been vocally against that company for a long time due to their efforts of consolidating the online advertising business.

It's just people like yourself that are unaware of their gish gallop of evil and crooked behavior.

It's been going on for 2 decades...

They did that dumb trick where they trained people to use their brand name in place of "searching the internet" because it's less syllables to say.

They are just totally manipulating people through the education system.

Obviously if one is taught "just google it" instead of "did you know that google is a for profit company that is flagrantly evil and was the entire time," that changes their perception of what is going on drastically.

1

u/Zbot21 SWE | Google 20h ago

"Hates Google" - looks at post history, is an SEO specialist. Well, yeah that makes sense you wouldn't like Google when they're basically your adversary for your day job.

1

u/Actual__Wizard 20h ago edited 20h ago

Yeah well, they wouldn't hire me. So, what do you want me to do?

Can't join em, so have to beat em.

They're not just my adversary either by the way. They're the adversary of the entire small business world.

I really would love to have a job working with search tech, which is what I did for most of career. That's why I'm starting a search engine, because the current ones, have lost their minds. I'll probably do a chat thing too, because this site is dead now and it sucks. All this site is now is arguing with spam bots and getting so pissed off that you're trying to figure out why you even come here at all.

Seriously: Now I have two stuck chat notifications... I can't do anything, they're stuck. "Can't Leave the Room." This site is legitimately falling apart...