Search engine manipulation effect: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 19:11, 17 November 2020

Revision as of 18:43, 14 December 2020

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{{Primary sources|article|date=June 2016}}

The '''search engine manipulation effect''' (SEME) is the change in [[consumer behaviour|consumer preference]]s from [[Search engine manipulation|manipulations of search results]] by [[search engine]] providers. SEME is one of the largest behavioral effects ever discovered. This includes [[voting behaviour|voting preferences]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Crain|first=Matthew|last2=Nadler|first2=Anthony|date=2019|title=Political Manipulation and Internet Advertising Infrastructure|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5325/jinfopoli.9.2019.0370|journal=Journal of Information Policy|volume=9|pages=370–410|doi=10.5325/jinfopoli.9.2019.0370|issn=2381-5892}}</ref> A 2015 study indicated that such manipulations could shift the voting preferences of undecided voters by 20 percent or more and up to 80 percent in some demographics.<ref name=poli>{{Cite web|title = How Google Could Rig the 2016 Election|url = http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/08/how-google-could-rig-the-2016-election-121548.html?hp=rc3_4#.VduFK6sVhhH|accessdateaccess-date = 2015-08-24|first = Robert|last = Epstein |date=August 19, 2015 |publisher=Politico.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Epstein|first=Robert|last2=Robertson|first2=Ronald E.|date=2015-08-18|title=The search engine manipulation effect (SEME) and its possible impact on the outcomes of elections|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|language=en|volume=112|issue=33|pages=E4512–E4521|doi=10.1073/pnas.1419828112|issn=0027-8424|pmc=4547273|pmid=26243876}}</ref>

The study estimated that this could change the outcome of upwards of 25 percent of national elections worldwide.

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== European antitrust lawsuit ==

European regulators accused Google of manipulating its search engine results to favor its own services, even though competitive services would otherwise have ranked higher. As of August 2015, the complaint had not reached resolution, leaving the company facing a possible fine of up to $6 billion and tighter regulation that could limit its ability to compete in Europe. In November 2014 the European Parliament voted 384 to 174 for a symbolic proposal to break up the search giant into two pieces—its monolithic search engine and everything else.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title = Google's $6 Billion Miscalculation on the EU|url = https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2015-08-06/google-s-6-billion-miscalculation-on-the-eu|website = Bloomberg.com|accessdateaccess-date = 2015-08-25|first = Vernon|last = Silver|last2 = Stone|first2 = Brad|date = August 6, 2015}}</ref>

The case began in 2009 when Foundem, a British online shopping service, filed the first antitrust complaint against Google in Brussels. In 2007, Google had introduced a feature called Universal Search. A search for a particular city address, a stock quote, or a product price returned an answer from one of its own services, such as [[Google Maps]] or [[Google Finance]]. This saved work by the user. Later tools such as OneBox supplied answers to specific queries in a box at the top of search results. Google integrated profile pages, contact information and customer reviews from [[Google Plus]]. That information appeared above links to other websites that offered more comprehensive data, such as [[Yelp]] or [[TripAdvisor]].<ref name=":0" />

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In April 2015, [[Hillary Clinton]] hired [[Stephanie Hannon]]&nbsp;from Google to be her [[chief technology officer]]. In 2015 [[Eric Schmidt]], chairman of Google's holding company started a company&nbsp;– 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 an external [[Hacker (computer security)|hacker]].<ref name=":1" />

On June 9, 2016, [[SourceFed]] alleged that Google manipulated its searches in favor of Clinton because the recommended searches for her are different than the recommended searches to both [[Yahoo]] and [[Bing (search engine)|Bing]] and yet the searches for both [[Donald Trump]] and [[Bernie Sanders]] are identical to both Yahoo and Bing. When "Hillary Clinton Ind" was entered in the search bar, Google Autocomplete suggested "Hillary Clinton Indiana", while the other vendors suggested "Hillary Clinton indictment". Furthermore, SourceFed placed the recommended searches for Clinton on [[Google Trends]] and observed that the Google suggestion was searched less than the suggestion from the other vendors.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Hern|first1=Alex|title=Google Manipulating Search In Favor Of Hillary Clinton?|url=http://techaeris.com/2016/06/10/google-manipulating-results-favor-hillary-clinton/|website=Techaeris|accessdateaccess-date=10 June 2016|date=10 June 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1= Richardson|first1=Valerie |title=Google accused of burying negative Hillary Clinton stories|url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/jun/9/google-accused-burying-negative-hillary-clinton-st/|accessdateaccess-date=10 June 2016|work=The Washington Times|date=9 June 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/google-appears-to-be-manipulating-search-results-to-help-hillary-clinton/article/2593562|title=Google denies manipulating search results to favor Hillary Clinton|last=TAKALA|first=RUDY|date=2016-06-11|website=Washington Examiner|access-date=2016-06-11}}</ref>

== References ==

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== External links ==

* {{Cite journal|title = The search engine manipulation effect (SEME) and its possible impact on the outcomes of elections|journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|date = 2015-08-18|issn = 0027-8424|pmid = 26243876|pages = E4512–E4521|volume = 112|issue = 33|doi = 10.1073/pnas.1419828112|first = Robert|last = Epstein |authorlink1author-link1=Robert Epstein|first2 = Ronald E.|last2 = Robertson|pmc=4547273}}

* {{Cite news|url=https://promarket.org/unprecedented-power-digital-platforms-control-opinions-votes/|title=The Unprecedented Power of Digital Platforms to Control Opinions and Votes -|last=Epstein|first=Robert|date=2018-04-12|work=|access-date=2018-05-17|language=en-US}}

[[Category:Internet search engines]]