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Comment by FlotaDeAragon | Hacker News Reader

They redistribute content others have produced. Filter and categorize it using automated processes

Exactly the same as ThePirateBay, conceptually

I'm not debating the bad things, they do happen. My point is that they are also providing value, which OP said they don't. Google and Facebook is not just a rehash of other's content, they are also vast, and useful platforms.

They are a rehash of other people's content. It doesn't mean they don't provide value but they are not primary content makers just a platform for publishing/searching for content

The Pirate Bay is also a useful platform that doesn’t produce any content.

By that logic few companies produce anything. All distributors and resellers are no different than Pirate Bay. Movie studios are no different. Movie theatres are no different. HN is no different.

I think that may be too reductive of a worldview.

I think your take is too reductive. Google's product is ad space and attention. Everything else serves one or both sides of that goal.

Search? Ads. Good search? Attention.

Ads are served by a Browser. Let's throw a few bucks at a Good open source browser (chromium) for good will and then make it our own. And then use it to serve ads.

Gmail? Free service and we just happen to get to build word clouds out of every bit of text that goes your way so we can tell what you're interested in to sell ads.

Android? Ads delivered right to your face, some of which you pay for, some of which pay us for you. And more word cloud text and data scraping. And we have your face and fingerprint. (But that's not bad, Apple is doing it too!)

It's quite efficient just like the funneling gnashing maw of any predator. But Google does not make anything, they only throw out lures to draw in more attention so they can make more ad revenue.

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