Google has made an effort in recent years to bury any content that might infringe upon copyrights or promote piracy. Now, according to TorrentFreak, the company has banned "Kodi" from its autocomplete feature. Now, if users type "Kodi" into a Google search box when looking for the media player software, it won't come up as a suggestion.
We tested this in Google and indeed, we found that Google did not autocomplete or suggest the term. "Since 2011, we have been filtering certain terms closely associated with copyright infringement from Google Autocomplete," a company spokesperson told TorrentFreak. "This action is consistent with that long-standing strategy." It's important to note that if you actually type in the term manually and search for it, the results you'd expect will still come up. Google just won't help you by autocompleting the term.
What's really interesting here is Google's phrasing "terms closely associated with copyright infringement." While many people use a Kodi add-on to illegally stream media, the application itself is perfectly legal to use. The company has made efforts to distance itself from the idea that the platform is used solely for pirated content; this move from Google doesn't help their case very much.
We tested this in Google and indeed, we found that Google did not autocomplete or suggest the term. "Since 2011, we have been filtering certain terms closely associated with copyright infringement from Google Autocomplete," a company spokesperson told TorrentFreak. "This action is consistent with that long-standing strategy." It's important to note that if you actually type in the term manually and search for it, the results you'd expect will still come up. Google just won't help you by autocompleting the term.
What's really interesting here is Google's phrasing "terms closely associated with copyright infringement." While many people use a Kodi add-on to illegally stream media, the application itself is perfectly legal to use. The company has made efforts to distance itself from the idea that the platform is used solely for pirated content; this move from Google doesn't help their case very much.