Hot review | 50,000 yuan to create a hot search, it’s time to cool down!
2024-08-25
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"It costs 50,000 yuan to be on the hot search list, and 20,000 yuan to be on the non-hot search list. If you want to stay on the list for a longer time, we will charge a higher price..." In recent years, some lawless people have artificially created hot searches, misled the public through false traffic, and disrupted the network ecology. (Xinhua News Agency, August 22)
Paying for rankings is nothing new; we have also heard of trending searches becoming a business.“Hot searches can be customized” and “The melons you read may have been swiped out”, which is jaw-dropping. Nowadays, 50,000 yuan can "create" a hot search, which is even more surprising. It turns out that only a few tens of thousands of yuan are needed to consume on the hot search list. Such a "cheap price" shows the maturity of the technology and the seriousness of the chaos.
Many people may not realize how "terrible" artificial hot searches are. According to the "agenda setting" theory, mass media cannot determine people's views on a certain matter, but can effectively influence the information people pay attention to and the order in which they discuss it through the arrangement of relevant information and topics.To some extent, trending searches are just an index in the vast ocean of information, playing the role of agenda setting, directly affecting what the public sees and how they see it.In other words, the trending search list has a public nature. If it is left to the algorithms, controlled by money, and manipulated by "trolls", it is not a matter of wasting public resources, but it means that the public attention is hijacked and the public opinion position is invaded. It is not difficult to imagine the many bad consequences.
In recent years, the police have effectively cracked down on the arrogance of "online water army", and the "clear and bright" series of special operations have also achieved positive results.Some platforms have obviously not fulfilled their due responsibilities, and some are even pretending to be asleep, stupid, or deaf and dumb.
For example, the real-name system. From fake orders and fake traffic to paid deletion of posts and hype, wherever there is traffic, there are "water armies". They are accounts that act as "online brushers" in this gray industry chain. But the problem is that most of these accounts are registered with real names and acquired in large quantities.How can the real-name system be leaked everywhere?A single facial verification can block a large number of accounts. Does the platform not know how to do it or does it not want to do it?
Let's talk about the hot search mechanism. Each platform has its own way of calculating the topic popularity and the formation mechanism of the hot search list. However, some platforms claim to be "technically neutral", which opens the door to "trolls". In this regard,We must change the "traffic first" mentality and improve the information control mechanism, strengthen real-time monitoring and technical screening of the content on the list, and take tough measures against artificial hot searches.
Text/Guangzhou Daily New Flower City reporter: Xia Zhenbin
Photo/Guangzhou Daily New Flower City reporter: Mo Weinong
Guangzhou Daily New Flower City Editor: Tuo Yanan
