Quebec under fire for customizing Google searches

Quebec’s Education Ministry is under fire for allegedly hiring a company to rig Google searches on tuition hikes.

The president of the Quebec Federation of University students claims the government paid a company to buy keywords to tweak Google search results on the tuition increases.

Leo Bureau-Blouin said the Federation had countered this move by purchasing its own three keywords: corruption, collusion, and endettement. 

Searching any of these three words yields a sponsored link for a protest video named The Real Jean Charest.

Education Minister Line Beauchamp defended herself by saying no one was forced to click their link.

But PQ education critic Marie Malavoy argued it was immoral for a government to hire a company that usually performs these customizations for business marketing purposes.

Just the latest mudslinging in what has become an ugly struggle over Charest’s tuition hikes.