This is basically the same problem of products astroturfing reddit, or SEO optimizing google. You want a new X, and so they heavily go after the keywords associated with it.

This is sort of why "brand" matters; it provides a source of trust.

Encyclopedia Britannica used to be that source of 'facts'. Then it became whatever page-rank told you. Eventually SEO optimization ruined that.

News stories are the same thing. For certain groups, they have their 'independent' publication whose reporting they trust.

>This is sort of why "brand" matters; it provides a source of trust

it tells you more about who you are buying from than how good the product will be, so I guess it's like National ID/Internet ID

It's such a pity the Oxford English Dictionary decided to paywall themselves decades ago - they used to be THE dictionary in most countries, now nobody seems to know who they are.