President Trump recently tweeted:

“Google search results for ‘Trump News’ shows only the viewing/reporting of Fake News Media. In other words, they have it RIGGED, for me & others, so that almost all stories & news is BAD. Fake CNN is prominent. Republican/Conservative & Fair Media is shut out. Illegal? 96% of…. ….results on ‘Trump News’ are from National Left-Wing Media, very dangerous. Google & others are suppressing voices of Conservatives and hiding information and news that is good. They are controlling what we can & cannot see. This is a very serious situation-will be addressed!”

This prompted Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) to send a letter to the FTC expressing his “concern about recent reports on Google’s search and digital advertising practices.”

To help the president, the senator, and others who need a better understanding of “Google’s search and digital advertising practices,” I responded by posting this intentionally brief and generalized description of Google’s business model:

“Google is not a search engine, it is a highly specialized direct response advertising engine purpose-built to translate the value of ‘intention’ into wealth for Google (Alphabet) shareholders. It is optimized to put the right ad in front of the right person at the right time. In other words, it is ‘rigged’ to optimize revenue – all other considerations are secondary.”

Internet Currencies

There are many different currencies that can be transformed into wealth. This is especially easy to do with digital tools. FANG (Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, and Google) provide some handy examples:

Attention — Facebook knows what you are paying attention to. You post and share the things you care about, and your Facebook profile makes your attention actionable.

Consumption – Amazon knows what you consume and what you’re thinking about consuming. If you’ve bought it or you are planning to buy it, Amazon knows it and can act on that data.