How Powerful Is Google?

Watch the video above and talk about it with a group or mentor. Learn more.

You use Google, but does Google use you? Find out how Google uses its 75 billion dollars of revenue and 55 thousand employees.

Key Points:

Google is a multinational tech company based in the United States with $75,000,000,000 of annual revenue and 55,000 employees.

Google has diversified its portfolio, acquiring YouTube, Waze, and Nest, along with expanding to the smartphone business with Android, researching artificial intelligence, and developing self-driving cars and wearable technology.

Through web searches and the usage of its products, Google is able to track the global arms trade, the spread of disease, censorship, and local crises successfully.

Google has shown it will not allow government censorship or interference from the U.S. or abroad.

A study performed showed that a political candidate’s ranking in search results could affect an undecided voter’s opinions.

Google has spent millions of dollars researching artificial intelligence, energy, and technology’s effects on people. As a leader in their field, the company is engrained in politics, media, and technology.

Quote This:

People at different stages of their lives are doing different things, and they’re all using Google. -Susan Wojcicki

Talk About It

What is your initial reaction to this topic? What jumped out at you?
How often do you use Google or Google products? How well could you function without it?
Why is Google so crucial to how many people live every day?
Are you comfortable with the amount of power and influence Google has? Why or why not?
Do you support Google’s decision to encrypt searches? Why or why not?
How does the ranking of a web search affect which website you visit? How is this relevant to broader issues like political elections?
Do you think that it would be acceptable for Google to alter search results for political reasons? Under what circumstances? Explain.
Write a personal action step based on this conversation.