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BP buys Google, Yahoo search words:Is it to keep people from real news on Gulf oil spill disaster?

hayward(1).PNG

British Petroleum CEO Tony Hayward

In their most tenacious effort to control the ‘spin’ on the worst oil spill disaster in US history, BP has purchased sponsored links at the top of internet search engines, Google and Yahoo. The top listed links direct people to BP's official company website for news and information on the catastrophe.

BP spokesman Toby Odone confirmed to ABC News that the oil giant had in fact bought internet search terms. 

The words ‘oil spill’, 'BP oil spill', 'Deepwater Horizon' and 'oil spill response' are among several other related search terms that all lead to the top listed sponsored links purchased by BP.

BP has not been completely forthcomming  with information on the oil spill, which has damaged the companies public image.

Shortly after the Deepwater Horizon exploded on April 20, 2010, BP executives quickly underestimated the size of the disastrous oil spill. Some suggest they did it to avoid costly EPA per-gallon spill fines. The less oil spilled, the lower the fines.

A month into the spill, the public learned through independent science, that the spill was in fact a million gallon a day gusher. BP got caught in their own lie when the used a syphon pipe in one of the broken riser pipes and proudly proclaimed that they were capturing 5,000 barrels of oil a day. With the oil obviously still gushing, they had to up their spill rate to explain the reported discrepancy in their earlier estimates.

As the dead bodies of birds, turtles and dolphins began showing up on land, BP used a private security company as their ‘oil spill police’  to try to keep photographers and reporters away from the true death toll from their spill. Tides of black goo lapping a shore lined in corpses did not portray the company image Tony Hayward wanted for BP.

The world is watching the Gulf of Mexico from airplanes, boats and satellite images. Buying the links listed first on internet search engines, which direct people to the BP company website, will not hide or erase the horrors of the apocalypse unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico from the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

Yet the question remains: If BP were not trying to influence information on the Gulf oil spill, why would they buy sponsored links?

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Sources ABC NEWS , sott.net  CNN

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COMMENTS POLICY: Vulgar remarks and personal attacks will be DELETED

 

Comments

  • Kyle 4 years ago

    If you do the search, BP clearly just purchased a sponsored link at the top of the search, which does absolutely nothing to prevent people from going elsewhere to learn about the spill... don't you think there are enough things to criticize BP for without lying? It is not the "top link" - it is a sponsored link, much different - maybe you should do research before you write the news

  • Yes 4 years ago

    At 12000 to 19000 a barrel leaking the have it almost stoped at 10000 barrels they are collecting. Just look at the video hardly nothing is coming out now. BP has a right to buy search words and suppress information whats new? In 1975 the world record for gas millage was 376 mpg. They would never suppress that. Better gas millage in cars would make them more money.

  • Yes 4 years ago

    Obama better get out of the business working for big oil cover-up and grow some. Or he will share in the same fate that is coming to BP. Those ruining the earth will be brought to ruin!

  • SamK 4 years ago

    MaryAnn, thanks for the interesting post.
    It's too bad that Google is doing so well, or BP could have just bought them outright... in order to do more good works, certainly.

  • drill this 4 years ago

    It's pretty easy to see who is pro big oil here and who is reality based. Give me a break. No matter how you look at it, BP is try to cover their butts. IF they cared about anything but their money, they would have built the rig right in the first place.

  • Beep 4 years ago

    Please explain how Obama is responsible for this disaster when Bush was not held accountable for Katrina. Did Obama get on a frogman suit and dive down to the bottom of the sea to blow up the works?

  • Myra Broussard 4 years ago

    hey BP, DONT YA'LL HAVE SIGNS OUTSIDE OF YOUR STATIONS THAT SAY "YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR OWN SPILLS?" I HATE YOU, YOU ARE A LIAR AND A CHEAT, A NO GOOD BACK STABBING CORPORATION, AND I HOPE ALL OF YOUR ASSETS ARE SEIZED!

  • Anonymous 4 years ago

    wow

  • Beverly 4 years ago

    Luckily, most of us aren't stupid enough to only look at the top hit that's been bought by BP. The word is getting out anyway, you jerks. BP management is worse scum than the stuff coating our shores, wetlands and wildlife. May they all drown in it in Hell forever.

  • drill this 4 years ago

    @Jeff - since they cut off the top they're spilling 56k barrels a day x 42 gal per barrel - yep, by the time they;re done it'll be BILLIONS of gallons. You do the math.

  • Balin 4 years ago

    Just because I can read and think for myself doesn't make me "pro big oil." Drill This and others here have no clue what they're talking about (re: oil drilling or search engines). This is all hysteria.

    The rig WAS "built right." The accident occurred because of poor maintenance by TransOcean, and a poor decision by BP to switch from mud to sea water in the riser. It was a procedural failure, not design. LEARN SOMETHING before you spout off.

  • gulfcoastvictem 4 years ago

    let me tell you people something..i dont care what tv anchorman tells the truth,this has to be stopped and BP is killing our gulf i watched keith oberman on this segment and i just think we need many more out there to tell the truth and not tell lies because main stream media is bought and paid for by the elites that want to kill our economy and rule the world...New World Order can go to HELL

  • another furrious1 4 years ago

    I agree with gulf coast victem! New world order wants to kill the economy and Tony Hayward should be FIRED and burned in this oil if that was any justice system!

  • gops 4 years ago

    people ask nothing about how the oil reach to their car, when everything work in order, and now, when something goes wrong, they are throwing responsibility at each other. people are responsible. ( even if its not mistake, they have elected it. ) government should start a disaster tax for those cases. and use those money to counter act it.

  • Lynda 4 years ago

    The BP oil folk have infitrated. Getting paid to take up space here too!

  • fitsum 4 years ago

    use "oil spill -BP-com-OilSpillNews" on Google and Yahoo to avoid getting BP's paid-for search result placement

  • hahahah 4 years ago

    israelis lol

  • Mike 4 years ago

    What I find interesting is that so many want to come to BP and big oil's defense. The fact that big oil spends money on drilling for oil to sell it is not a crime. What IS a crime is that big oil and BP have spent many millions to misinform the public (like yourselves)about the safety of drilling for oil and to smear the value of using renewable resources and alternative energy sources (like solar, wind etc.) and to block efforts at energy conservation. Yes, WE are guilty....guilty of letting BP and the rest of big oil pull the wool over our eyes, and from reading many of the comments here,
    they have been pretty successful. So, in that context, it is BP's slimy business-as-usual in buying premium ad content to misdirect (and don't think for a second that it's for any other reason) the public.

  • Carol C McCrite 4 years ago

    This says a LOT about the character of GOOGLE and YAHOO...it is what we expect from the BIG OIL GUYS who BUY congressmen and presidents...past and present...and spin the media like tops.

  • BillyHewitt 4 years ago

    The Gulf of Mexico is about to become a dead zone because the BP & Obama team are "BLIND TO PLUMES". The main leak is from the fractured sea bed not the riser 6 miles away shown on TV. It will take a nuclear weapon at 18,000 feet below sea level to plug the fractured hole. The main leak is gushing oil at the rate of 120,000 bpd instead of BP estimate 5,000 bpd and government estimate of 19,000 bpd. BP should be declared a terrorist and all BP assets seized and all company officers declared enemy combatants and sent to Guantanamo for daily waterboarding until they confess. Bye Bye GOM! Hello East Coast have a BP tar ball. A gift from uncle Tony.

    Simmons says Government Should Take Over BP Oil Clean Up: Video Reference Bloomberg News

    Matt Simmons: “There’s another leak, much bigger, 5 to 6 miles away”. Reference Dylan Ratigan show

  • Driller 4 years ago

    Billy Hewitts comment is a waste of what lite grey matter he has, NUKE the sea floor Huh, ya go smoke another one Billy Boy....BPs not doing a thing down there, talk of Balancing pressures and Stability and Dispersants...I do know that whoever ordered the Cut off of the well head with that Diamond rope saw was an Idiot, The riser pipe weihs TONS and it should have been cut off first about 6 feet out, Then the Smooth cut could have been done, Instead they crushed the pipe and now we have the gushing oil issue, BP youve Lied and now the FISH DIe, bIRDS CANT Fly, Wildlife and food systems pay the price for BPs greed

  • Sigh 4 years ago

    Humans and their epic pride and stupidity. First the damage and then the cover-up...as usual, always the drill.

  • Marie 4 years ago

    JERKWADS!!!!!

  • Ed, San Diego 4 years ago

    5,000 people were killed when the blast happened, a further 20,000 people died over the years that followed and many thousands of children have been born with disabilities. And the senior executives at head office got away without even a fine.

    No, this wasn't a BP accident, it is the result of a chemical explosion in an American factory based in India - Google Union Carbide

    Lets get real. It is ok for an American company to destroy lives in other countries and get away with it, but when an American company (Haliburton) causes an oil spill off the coast of America, it is someone else that is to blame.

  • Great Opportunity 4 years ago

    For programmers who loath BP and like search engines to automate searching for relevant topics and following the link to BP.

    Lots of links and follows, money flows from BP to the search engines.

  • flounder 4 years ago

    B.P. and Pelicans

    Pelicans Soaring and B.P. Oil

    watch the Pelicans outback ;

    everybody wants to go to Heaven, but nobody wants to go now...

    www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsCckM8fB78

    galvestonbay.blogspot.com/

    Thursday, June 3, 2010

    CAUGHT IN B.P. OIL

    These photo's should disgust everyone. my good friend the pelican is in dire straights again, along with other birds and wildlife, again, thanks to man. ...TSS

    www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/06/caught_in_the_oil.html

  • Michael From SF 4 years ago

    What are you all complaining about - this is part of how we got Obama elected. Doh!

  • Colin 4 years ago

    This is nowhere near the worst oil spill in history - just American history.

  • Sharjeel 4 years ago

    Wow...I'm not going to say this is mind blowing but simply disappointing...

  • t-bone 4 years ago

    Join "Convince Google to Donate Proceeds from BP Ads to the Gulf Cleanup Effort" group on Facebook

  • Knarf 4 years ago

    Anyone slightly media savvy knows to skip the top-rank advertising resultsat the top of a search page.

    try using Clusty instead of Google. www.clusty.com

  • JohnS 4 years ago

    For all you 'internet savvy' nitwits out there - FF adblock, Noscript and other cookie blocking addons hide sponsored links. So if you're using a blocker don't expect to see the sponsored links. It would be nice if you oil spill lovers knew what you were talking about before you open you're mouths and think you're smart.

  • Michelle 4 years ago

    Go to Boycott BP on Facebook. They have all the latest, and no one can stop the TRUTH!

  • Dude 4 years ago

    Have not seen sponsored links in years - scroogle.org searches google for me and I don't get any of the cookies.

  • TONY 4 years ago

    BP NEEDS TO FIRE TONY HAYWARD CEO. IF THIS WAS THE UK HIS ASS WOULD HAVE BEEN GONE. FIRE THE DUDE., HIS ATTITUDE IS SO CAVALIER~ LOOK AT THEIR HISTORY OF PAYING FINES RATHER THAN BEING IN COMPLIANCE. THIS COMPANY HAS NO INTEGRITY., ONLY GREED! LETS SET THE EXAMPLE IN THE FUTURE. OTHER OIL COMPANIES LOOK AT THIS AND SHOW US WHAT YOU CAN DO TO PREVENT THIS DISASTER.

  • Brian Long from Blacksburg, VA 4 years ago

    I personally think the oil spill has been a good thing for many people. For instance, I make my living by tossing salads, and many people are very depressed by the news reports concerning the oil spill, and the oil-soaked birds, and they are coming to me to get their salads tossed and forget about all the bad news. Anyone who would like to have their salad tossed, contact me @ long.brian@yahoo.com. I provide jelly or syrup, depending on your preference. Thanks, and good night.

  • eyewitness 4 years ago

    I have received several emails from friends and family asking about the oil spill. I had managed to avoid getting involved until last hitch. i came home last night from a 10 day hitch flying for BP from their base at Houma, La. They have 56 aircraft working the oil spill. I worked the Venice, La and the Grand Isle area where the president likes to visit. The news people have blown everything out of proportion and lots of untruths. The report that no one was cleaning up Grand Isle beach for one, Yesterday there was 200-300 men on the beach cleaning up what little oil was there.
    I have been flying the Coast Guard around checking the bird sanctuaries. They are protected by booms that prevent oil getting on the small islands in the area.

    The famous pelican that was on all they news channels was on Queen Bess Island. it is the size of about two city blocks and had one spot of oil about 10 feet long. The stupid pelican decided to land in this spot. There are more there more than 10,000 b

  • Mary 4 years ago

    I wonder about future history books about thid OIL in the Gulf

    Pelicans have feelings !! Just think...they lost their nests and chicks, their feeding food on the Gulf area...they shiver and die. what is their hope and future? I am a nurse and have seen many humans die but as I try to compose my words...a stream of tears fall frim my eye....we must try

    /

  • Marianne Clancy 4 years ago

    i still do not understand why they cannot absorb this w hay? it appears it works, why not?

  • Save the animals! 4 years ago

    Why not spend the money wasted on google ad words on cleaning and saving the animals?

  • allanonmage 4 years ago

    K, so a ~9 am on 6/12/2010 I googled "oil spill" and got some news articles from google news, wikipedia, huffington post, the NY times, some images, and then a yahoo news article.

    wth author? Seems you just made some sh1t up and posted it on the net. What was the date/time you googled and found something different?

  • nay witness 4 years ago

    eyewitness: Your statements only prove the utter lack of regard that BP has for the environment. "Stupid pelican" - wow. Good one.

  • Mark 4 years ago

    They have also bought keywords on utube...

  • alan 4 years ago

    They may have forgotten a few other words and phrases to include such as; scum, dirtbags, crimes against humanity, evil . . .

  • james 4 years ago

    I don't think there is anything morally or professionally wrong in them doing this. They have a right to make a case, buy space and project their views. That's freedom, right? Is it an attempt to influence - sure. But it's equally a legitimate attempt to supply information, comment which everyone has lambasted them for not doing....

  • Bebe Obobo 4 years ago

    IF, You're thinking of 'cleaning up the oil/tar balls', You'd BEST "CLICK ON THIS LINK 1ST!"

    www.silenceinthesound.com Now, I'm not saying that you may find these people, as most of'em won't live any longer than up tp 50-55 years of age!

    (And IF, you're National Guard, & NOT Using 'Rubber Gloves, Rubber Body Suit & Vapour Mask', well, "YOU'RE GOOD AS DEAD"!)

    HAPPY GOOGLING!

  • Mike dk 4 years ago

    Well then....CLICK on those BP - sponsored links....
    That will cost BP 1-5 $ a click.....
    + Google cheats on top of that.....!!
    CLICK....click....

  • iH8zionists 4 years ago

    Put Tony Hayward into the hands of the Taliban. thats what i would call true justice.

  • HAB 4 years ago

    What about the latest theory that its not an oil spill but they (some say purposely) hit an oceanic volcano - in an area well known for oceanic volcanoes. YouTube is full of the stuff with some pretty convincing scientific (geological) info to back it up - just don't get too caught up in the conspiracy stuff and keep it real. Oil is bad enough, but if this destablizes already volatile areas, it could cause a domino effect = methane and other toxic gases and tsunamis which could wipe out Florida. Check it out.

  • Henke 4 years ago

    That's normal media strategy. There isn't a company on this planet who have not been known to do everything they can to protect their hits on the internet when media is hot. I run a smartdrugs business, god knows i've spent a lot of time and effort to balance damage when media goes berserk (my company have never killed or destroyed anything though, but that doesn't stop media from wanting to kill us). :)
    Wether it's an effort to block true news or not isn't really the issue, since the same coule be said of everyone who buy sponsored links from any perspective. What is the issue is that this is something that EVERY company can and will do if they can afford it since it's, as I said, an accepted and widely practiced media strategy.

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