Search engine companies are BP’s latest strategy to manipulate data to the public about the gulf oil spill. BP seems at the top of the page for many search engine queries related to the oil spill. BP is distributing its oil wealth to search engines as the company’s stock price goes through the floor, threatening its future even though it has billions stashed away. BP’s response to the disaster is frustrating lawmakers, who publicly chastise the company for prioritizing dividends over damage claims. Meanwhile, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico 2010 added up to as much as 125 million gallons and counting on day 52 of the disaster.
BP oil spill search scheme
Web users browsing for oil spill updates are in BP’s PR crosshairs. BP, fighting off bad press and political pressure, is trying to control data about the disaster by paying search engine companies to show up at the top of the list for queries such as “oil spill and “oil spill claims”. The sponsored links take you to a special BP Web page featuring the news updates, photos and videos telling a story about the oil spill disaster and cleanup that BP wants people to hear. What’s missing from the BP site is the oil spill live feed that shows a raging gusher of crude overwhelming the oil spill cap.
BP stock price plummets
BP’s search engine oil spill spin has been little help to its stock price. In London trading, U.S. political pressure on BP for its failure to contain the oil spill disaster drove BP stock to its lowest price in seven years. BP stock is widely held by British pension funds and investors you will find angered over the insistence of U.S. lawmakers that BP suspend dividends until the oil spill is cleaned up. The Associated Press reports that when asked if BP should cut its dividends to shareholders House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, “I think it’s appropriate for BP to be paying businesses in the Gulf. … They have a responsibility under the law to pay these damages. They made $17 billion last year. Maybe people who receive dividends have deeper pockets.”House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told the Associated Press that BP should take responsibility under the law to pay damages before paying dividends to individuals with deep pockets.
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