Google Search Results Are Politically Biased
December 7, 2016
Google search results are supposed to be objective and accurate. The key phrase in the last sentence was objective, but studies have proven that algorithms can be just as biased as the humans who design them. One would think that Google, one of the most popular search engines in the world, who have discovered how to program objective algorithms, but according to the International Business Times, “Google Search Results Tend To Have Liberal Bias That Could Influence Public Opinion.”
Did you ever hear Uncle Ben’s advice to Spider-Man, “With great power comes great responsibility.” This advice rings true for big corporations, such as Google, that influence the public opinion. CanIRank.com conducted a study the discovered searches using political terms displayed more pages with a liberal than a conservative view. What does Google have to say about it?
The Alphabet-owned company has denied any bias and told the Wall Street Journal: ‘From the beginning, our approach to search has been to provide the most relevant answers and results to our users, and it would undermine people’s trust in our results, and our company, if we were to change course.’ The company maintains that its search results are based on algorithms using hundreds of factors which reflect the content and information available on the Internet. Google has never made its algorithm for determining search results completely public even though over the years researchers have tried to put their reasoning to it.
This is not the first time Google has been accused of a liberal bias in its search results. The consensus is that the liberal leanings are unintentional and is an actual reflection of the amount of liberal content on the Web.
What is the truth? Only the Google gods know.
Whitney Grace, December 7, 2016
Google Throws Hat in Ring as Polling Service for Political Campaigns
July 4, 2016
The article on Silicon Angle titled Google is Pitching Its Polling Service at Journos, Politicians…Also, Google Has a Polling Division explores the recent discovery of Google’s pollster ambitions. Compared to other projects Google has undertaken, this desire to join Gallup and Nielsen as a premier polling service seems downright logical. Google is simply taking advantage of its data reach to create Google Consumer Surveys. The article explains,
“Google collects the polling data for the service through pop-up survey boxes before a news article is read, and through a polling application…The data itself, while only representative of people on the internet, is said to be a fair sample nonetheless, as Google selects its sample by calculating the age, location, and demographics of those participating in each poll by using their browsing and search history…the same technology used by Google’s ad services including DoubleClick and AdWords.”
Apparently Google employees have been pitching their services to presidential and congressional campaign staffers, and at least one presidential candidate ran with them. As the article states, the entire project is a “no-brainer,” even with the somewhat uncomfortable idea of politicians gaining access to Google’s massive data trove. Let’s limit this to polling before Google gets any ideas about the census and call it a day.
Chelsea Kerwin, July 4, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
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