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Published: Mon, 14 July 2008, 07:16, also tagged: technology, internet, search, google, search engines, statistics, swastika, 卐, ǝlƃooƃ, ǝlƃooƃ noʎ ʞɔnɟ
Manipulation of the Google Trends query rankings seems easy as pie. On the 13th of July Google Trends top ten search terms included “ǝlƃooƃ noʎ ʞɔnɟ”. This is shortly after the swastika making an appearance.
Google states that a single post on a large forum community (4Chan) was the cause of the “卐” appearance:
Published: Thu, 10 July 2008, 14:37, also tagged: internet, search, google, statistics, hindu, nazi germany, swastika, 卐
Many blogs and news sources are reporting the swastika symbol was a top search term on Google Trends for a brief period. Google seem to have rectified the issue with the swastika no longer in the top searches list.
The swastika 卐 has innocent meanings as a Hindu symbol and negative connotations via the atrocities committed by Nazi Germany and the adoption of the symbol to represent Nazism.
The appearance of the swastika in the top searches list in my opinion appears to be spam via some kind of sophisticated manipulation. I’m not sure Google will issue information regarding its appearance, but nevertheless it’s very strange. The fact that a search for “卐” now produces: