It's high time Google and other search engines were forced to expose the inner workings of their ranking algorithms to the public, particularly now that they have near-monopoly power in the sector. People should also be able to adjust the dials on the algorithm themselves.
I use Google through a VPN to avoid it. That breaks maps integration.
So search engines now have to get the "truth", preferably the politically correct one, and since you can't rely on the crowd for that, you have to introduce bias, and "pre-approved news outlets" are the most obvious choice.
DDG shows the author's substack as #1 result and is neutral otherwise. The other doesn't even have it on the first SERP, and is overwhelmingly critical.
If you argue that covid response is not politics, I will disagrer strongly.
It's absolutely catastrophic if you are not allowed to draw your own conclusions about things. This is your inalienable prerogative as an adult in a free country. Even at the risk of some people being wrong sometimes, you simply cannot have authorities distributing doctrine and call yourself a democracy.