An aspect of #Google that makes things even more complicated is -- again, this is just my one guy opinion -- is that Google has never really been effective at speaking to the public at large, and explaining to the public -- not just techies and other high-level stakeholders -- in ways that will be understood and appreciated.

And this leaves an information vacuum that gets filled with misinformation and disinformation from others. That's why so many people still think Google sells users' personal information to advertisers (they don't and never have) or that advertisers can buy organic search result rankings (they can't and have never been able to).

When I explain these kinds of issues and many others (e.g., relating to #YouTube) I almost always get "gee, how come nobody ever explained this to me this way before?" responses.

I've been bugging Google about this situation for many years and unfortunately have made very little headway. And now this problem is more important than ever for Google to solve.