Is GOOGLE the Internet's gatekeeper?

 Matthew Hindman's Chapter 3 in The Myth of Digital Democracy, poses the question on How the Internet is shaping/ changing the political landscape, however for the purpose of this Blog I will discuss the topic of Google's Page Rank. He begins by describing the different layers of the Internet; the hardware layer, code or logical layer, and the content layer. However, what he focuses on is the importance of hyperlinks on a webpage. A feature in Google's power rank that is used to determine the rank results of its content. In other words, the importance of a website is like a popularity contest. A website with more connections and hyperlinks will have more traffic by Internet users and will rank higher within google's results. A notion I was left with after reading was is Google the Internet's gatekeeper ? In order for a user to be informed of a website they must either come across it in an off-line form or have it recommended by an acquaintance. The only other option for an Internet User to become informed of a website's existence is to find it through a search engine. Since Google receives an overwhelming amount of users in search of a website (about 65%, according to nielson), only the websites Google deems worthy get the most attention. Leaving behind dozens and dozens of websites without traffic due simply to their lack of connections. In other words, through Google and their Page Rank system the Internet's openness dwindles down to a very small opening. 

However, another viewpoint discussed of google's page rank tactic is that it is simply showing the public what is most chosen by them. In a democratic way, the public is choosing what websites are the best and Google is simply making them more accessible. In the end, Google and other similar search engine sites are not public services, they are profit seeking companies that have to take into account both the needs of their clients, users, and themselves. In a sense, they are gatekeepers to a certain extent, however the power of the majority will always have a strong influence in what websites rank high.

- Nabila C.