We’ve heard all the complaints about eroding digital privacy, and we live through them daily here at HideandSeek. Yet nothing gets our goat more than massive monopolies affecting millions’ lives with little thought.
So we’re finally going to say it –
Google, You Suck!
Google is a massive corporation that often tries to pass itself off as friendly and for the people. Yet behind its colorful logos and attempts to make life “easier” with single sign-on buttons lies a conglomerate with aims of global domination.
Sure, it doles out freebies by the ton and acts as a stopgap to the other end of the equation (I’m looking at you, Apple). But there are tons of reasons why you might want to be a little wary of this company.
1. Google is a Massive Data Vampire
Google doles out freebies by the dozen, from free Gmail to file and photo storage. And keep in mind that’s on a global scale. Can you imagine the computing resources it takes to hold and process that data for free?
I can’t imagine why anyone would think these things come at no cost. Perhaps there is no direct fiscal cost, but we place a massive amount of personal information in Google’s hands.
That last sentence might give you the first clue. The answer to the Google “no-cost” service model is data. Your data. My data. All of it helps Google to sell a massive amount of personalized ads.
Google builds its business on the back of ads, drawing in billions a year. While much of the world stayed indoors during the pandemic, Google ad revenue jumped to over $200 billion in 2021. That was thanks to your data and mine.
2. Chrome is a Huge RAM Hog
Google Chrome is one of the most popular web browsers today. Over 67% of the world’s population uses Chrome. Yet despite the massive number of users and significant time under development, Chrome remains a giant resource hog.
Don’t believe me?
Fire up your Task Manager and expand the “Google Chrome” option under Processes. It’ll show you a complete list of every task that’s running on Chrome and host much memory it occupies. I assure you, it will be more than anything else on your device unless you’re a graphic designer.
3. Android Auto Represents Years of Failure
Android Auto first came to light in 2015 – that was nearly a decade ago. You would think that after so many years, they would have gotten things right. Yet, even today, car owners struggle to understand why it works with some cars and aftermarket head units and not others.
How it works is a complete mystery since Android Auto often comes across as a neglected stepchild in a wealthy yet dysfunctional family. We know it exists and sometimes works in some places. To know anything else, you’ll likely have to try and read a cup of tea leaves and tell the future.
4. Google Maps Are Unreliable
Google Maps is another massive project that’s been underway for years. It’s useful and has gotten so many upgrades that we can now see street views of almost any corner in the world. The problem is that we often consider this an over-realistic representation of fact.
You see, Google Maps doesn’t always get frequent updates. Or at least it doesn’t get regular updates everywhere. If the location you want to see is a major thoroughfare in a metropolitan city, then you’re in luck.
Those who need to check out a site in Timbuktu will be better off praying for a divine vision from the gods.
5. Google is Biased Against Many Countries
Similar to most multinational entities, Google needs to approach different countries in various ways thanks to regulations and laws. Yet, in some cases this simply isn’t necessary. One good example is its Pixel phones.
These great phones are officially available in a handful of countries. Precisely how these locations get chosen is anyone’s guess. Probably by potential sales volume. But if it’s selling in one place, why not the country next door? Or will that extra shipping cost hurt the company too much?
6. Google Rewards Sloth and Penalizes Hard Work
We know that Google search is among the most used worldwide. Because of that, many websites rely on Google searches to draw in visitors. They create tons of excellent content they hope Google will think highly of and recommend to potential visitors.
Yet I often see terrible Google search algorithm updates rewarding websites with poor content. Some pages have a considerable amount of Ai-generated text filled with nonsense. Yet they can rank well and grab a ton of AdSense revenue. It boggles the mind.
To prove this, I searched for “blacklisted car loans”. One of the top ten results was a page full of everything related to blacklists. One notable header on the pages came up as “Can a phone be removed from blacklist?”
‘Nuff said.
7. Privacy With Google? Forget it!
This fact somewhat ties in with Google being a data hog. Since it collects everything the masses are willing to share, privacy is nonexistent. Google collects data with almost every service and app it offers (free, of course).
That includes:
- Google Chrome
- Google Nest
- WearOS
- YourTube
- Waze
And many more. Once you sign in, those apps will track your every move and report them in minute detail to Google. It’s like willingly living under Gestapo surveillance.
8. Google Kills Websites Without Effort
Since Google exerts excellent control over search results (when it wishes to), Google can bring any of them down at any time. All it needs is to decide you’ve violated some regulation or rule which cuts your website from the search results page.
Adding insult to injury, Google automates part of this process. To illustrate with an example, I know of one website with an article that provided a list of websites to stream movies. Eager-beaver copyright trolls reported the website to Google, accusing the website of copyright violations.
Within moments the website’s traffic nearly crashed. It took more than a week of communicating with Google to make the behemoth realize it did an “oops.” Removal of the ban was flawless, but weeks of lost revenue hurt.
Again, not Google’s problem.
9. Overoptimization Turns Google into a Problem
When Google first rolled out search, it made life much easier. Throw in your keywords, and it spat out good results. Dozens of modifications later, it has today become the very problem it sought to resolve.
Search on Google has become a nightmare, with results emerging so badly you’ll wonder if you provided it with the right search terms. “Perhaps typing in Swahili would make it give better results?” I can just hear the comedians among you ask.
One Redditor famously complained that a search for “firewall inbound configurations” brought him to a page with the opposite results. Perhaps Google thought it was the same thing?
10. Google Treats Website Owners Like Slave Labor
Google shares ad revenues with websites that run its AdSense program. Remember that $200 billion in ad revenue? It offers each website that runs AdSense ads the opportunity to earn a few pfennigs for every few thousand ad impressions.
If this were the real world, it would be considered slave labor. Website owners pay a ton of money for hosting, content, and website design. They weave the fabric that represents most of the internet.
In return, we’re paid a pittance and often face accusations of fraud and other wrongdoings. Where is old Abe when you need him?
11. Google Pushes Too Much Hype on Tech
Google sells itself as a tech innovator that’s going places. That’s part of the logic behind its sky-high stock price. The truth is that almost all of Google’s revenue comes from a single source – advertising.
While I agree that stock buyers should do their due diligence, pushing one facade while operating in another can be seen as somewhat deceptive. Company registrars often care about what business a company is in, so why is Google an exception?
Final Thoughts
The biggest problem with Google is that they’re like the opposite sex. You can live with it, but you can’t live without it, either. Or is that true?
To be clear, it is entirely possible to scrub yourself off from Google, but life will be a lot more complicated. Yet some companies like Incogni try to make it easier to recapture your privacy by removing data from the hands of data brokers.
If you’re sick of the same ads following you around like a creepy stalker, give Incogni a go.