Google is promoting torrent sites in search results

Looking for a good torrent site? You can now get help from an unexpected source: Google.

The search engine is now prominently displaying several torrent sites at the top of search results, despite its longstanding cooperation with the entertainment industry to demote links to copyright-infringing content.

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A carousel with more than a dozen torrent sites, including the Pirate Bay and Torrent Project, now appears when you search for terms like "torrent sites" or "best torrent sites." Clicking on one of the sites shown in the carousel surfaces search results related to the site.

Image: screenshot/google

Google and Microsoft inked a deal in the UK earlier this year to combat piracy by demoting links to websites that contain pirated content, according to The Guardian.

First spotted by Torrent Freak, we don't know how long Google has been displaying the torrent results. Torrent Freak also found that Google displays links to streaming sites known to host pirated content, like Putlocker and Alluc, alongside links to legitimate services, like Hulu and Crackle.

Image: screenshot/google

Since these types of results are algorithmically-generated, it's unlikely that Google is intentionally promoting this type of content so prominently, given its prior efforts to promote legitimate sources over pirated ones.

A Google spokesperson confirmed as much in a statement, saying the company was "looking into it." "These results are generated algorithmically, but in this particular case, do not reflect what we had in mind for this feature, and we are looking into it."

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