Search engine manipulation effect: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 04:05, 10 October 2015

Revision as of 22:55, 28 February 2016

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Divorcees, Republicans and those who reported low familiarity with the candidates were among the most subject to the effect, while participants who were better informed, married or reported annual household income between $40,000 and $50,000 were harder to sway. Moderate Republicans were the most susceptible, increasing support for the favored candidate by 80%.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Internet search engines may be influencing elections|url = http://news.sciencemag.org/brain-behavior/2015/08/internet-search-engines-may-be-influencing-elections|first=David |last=Shultz |publisher=Science Magazine |date=August 7, 2015|accessdate = 2015-08-24}}</ref>

Slightly reducing the bias on the first result page of search results – specifically, by including one search item that favoured the other candidate in the third or fourth position masked the manipulation so that few or even no subjects noticed the bias, while still triggering the preference change.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web

=== India ===

| url = https://aeon.co/essays/how-the-internet-flips-elections-and-alters-our-thoughts

| title = How the internet flips elections and alters our thoughts — Robert Epstein — Aeon Essays

| website = Aeon

| access-date = 2016-02-28

}}</ref>

On election day in 2010, Facebook sent ‘go out and vote’ reminders to more than 60 million of its users. The reminders caused about 340,000 people to vote who otherwise would not have. In another 2014 Facebook experiment for a period of a week, 689,000 Facebook users were sent news feeds that contained either an excess of positive terms, an excess of negative terms, or neither. Those in the first group subsequently used slightly more positive terms in their communications, while those in the second group used slightly more negative terms in their communications. Both experiments were conducted without the knowledge or consent of the participants.<ref name=":1" />

Later research suggested that search rankings impact virtually all issues on which people are initially undecided around the world. Search results that favour one point of view tip the opinions of those who are undecided on an issue. In another experiment, biased search results shifted people’s opinions about the value of [[Hydraulic fracturing|fracking]] by 33.9 per cent.<ref name=":1" />

==== 2016 Presidential election ====

In April 2015, [[Hillary Clinton]] hired [[Stephanie Hannon]] from Google to be her [[chief technology officer]] In 2015 [[Eric Schmidt]], chairman of Google's holding company started a company – The Groundwork – for the specific purpose of electing Clinton. [[Julian Assange]], founder of [[WikiLeaks]], called Google her ‘secret weapon’. Researchers estimated that Google could help her win the nomination and could deliver between 2.6 and 10.4 million general election votes to Clinton via SEME. No evidence documents any such effort, although since search results are ephemeral, evidence could only come via a Google [[whistleblower]] or a external [[hacker]].<ref name=":1" />

=== India ===

A second experiment involved 2,000 eligible, undecided voters throughout India during the 2014 [[Lok Sabha]] election. The subjects were familiar with the candidates and were being bombarded with campaign rhetoric. Search rankings could boost the proportion of people favoring any candidate by more than 20 percent and more than 60 percent in some demographic groups.<ref name=poli/>

=== United Kingdom ===

A UK experiment was conducted with nearly 4,000 people just before the 2015 national elections examined ways to prevent manipulation. Randomizing the rankings or including alerts that identify bias had had some suppressive effects.<ref name=poli/>

== European antitrust lawsuit ==

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Google executives [[Larry Page]] and [[Marissa Mayer]], among others, privately advocated for favoring Google’s own services, even if its algorithms deemed that information less relevant or useful.<ref name=":0" />

== Google Trends ==

[[Google]] acknowledges adjusting its algorithm 600 times a year, but does not disclose the substance of its changes.<ref name=poli/>