Google Declaring War on the Web
Google is shifting its approach to web search by prioritizing processed answers over traditional links to information. This change aims to create a new layer of control over the web, potentially diminishing the importance of individual websites and content creators. Critics argue that this move could monopolize access to information and undermine the participatory nature of the internet.
- ▪Google is moving towards providing processed answers instead of links to information in search results.
- ▪This shift is seen as an attempt to control the flow of information on the web.
- ▪Critics warn that this could lead to a monopolized and less participatory internet.
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On Google declaring war on the Web May 20, 2026 — by tante in english, notes, Writing In Yesterday’s IO Keynote Google declared war on the remnants of the Web. (See longer description on their website.) TL;DR: They are pushing Search more into the “here’s your processed answer” direction that “AI Overviews” have established (you know, those AI snippets in current Search that are wrong about 10% of the time). So they are mostly giving up on the paradigm of providing links to information.While they packaged it as a lot of “AI” talk and “agentic” and whatnot, what their whole approach of decontextualizing information, of taking away links to sources and instead producing some LLM generated response means is that they want to establish a new abstraction layer on the web.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Smashing Frames.
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