The article doesn't use the term I've heard of to describe this, which is "data gap".
Take something like a query for "Is the Earth Flat?". There's not a continual stream of videos, posts, and comments about how round the earth is (it's just taken as a given). So Google naturally floats content that says "The Earth is Flat" to the top.
This plays out in all sorts of odd and horrific ways. There was a local political contest where one candidate accused the other of some literal nonsense (it was something like they were a demon or smelled like sulfur). This rumor was making the rounds on Facebook, etc and if you Google'd their name and "sulfer" you'd find some whacked out post about how some lady stood behind them at a coffee shop and thought they smelled and that they were satan's lovechild.
What is that candidate to do? Put up their own competing post saying "I don't smell like sulfur?"
Take something like a query for "Is the Earth Flat?". There's not a continual stream of videos, posts, and comments about how round the earth is (it's just taken as a given). So Google naturally floats content that says "The Earth is Flat" to the top.
This plays out in all sorts of odd and horrific ways. There was a local political contest where one candidate accused the other of some literal nonsense (it was something like they were a demon or smelled like sulfur). This rumor was making the rounds on Facebook, etc and if you Google'd their name and "sulfer" you'd find some whacked out post about how some lady stood behind them at a coffee shop and thought they smelled and that they were satan's lovechild.
What is that candidate to do? Put up their own competing post saying "I don't smell like sulfur?"