Weekly New/Digital Media (25)
Google 'must review its search rankings because of rightwing manipulation'
Summary:
"Hate sites are dominating and controlling searches on Muslims, Jews, Hitler and women and search engine is failing to tackle problem, say academics"
Google is now reviewing the ranking system of their searches due to strong evidence of "being manipulated and controlling" of right wing propaganda, eg. against muslims, jews and women.
Data analysist Cathy O’Neil also states that “It simply can’t go on pretending that it has no editorial responsibilities "
Google has since started changing some of the bias suggestions that come up in the search engine but haven't removed all of them.
Frank Pasquale, professor of law states that "Who did that? And how did they decide? Who’s in charge of these decisions? And what will they do in the future? This is clearly just being done in response to a story in the media, but it’s not accountable, and it’s not sustainable"
Google is now reviewing the ranking system of their searches due to strong evidence of "being manipulated and controlling" of right wing propaganda, eg. against muslims, jews and women.
Data analysist Cathy O’Neil also states that “It simply can’t go on pretending that it has no editorial responsibilities "
Google has since started changing some of the bias suggestions that come up in the search engine but haven't removed all of them.
Frank Pasquale, professor of law states that "Who did that? And how did they decide? Who’s in charge of these decisions? And what will they do in the future? This is clearly just being done in response to a story in the media, but it’s not accountable, and it’s not sustainable"
O’Neil said that she believed Google would ultimately have to hire human editors.
“Twenty years ago, these sites with these views … they would have been completely shut out by the mainstream press, but we have replaced our guardians of information with algorithms that are dumb and that can be toyed with and manipulated.”
“Twenty years ago, these sites with these views … they would have been completely shut out by the mainstream press, but we have replaced our guardians of information with algorithms that are dumb and that can be toyed with and manipulated.”
Key statistics/facts:
- “This is the end for Google pretending to be a neutral platform,” says Cathy O’Neil (data scientist)
- she also says "“There’s a a growing list of social media empires that have been attempting with all their power and might to claim that they don’t have editorial responsibility, but they have been proven wrong."
My opinion:
It seems that this is very true that human editors seem needed. From most the media research we have done so far the main problem seems to be with the fact that there are automatic and algarhythms used to make editorial decisions in regard to the presentation of content. It seems that this automatic content causes for a lot of problems amoungst the audience especially in terms of the ethical issues it raises. However, it is not to say that a human editor will make complete a just decisions where ideologies can be different but also on a platform that serves as a major marketing tool and aims to make a profit from its services and products. Therefore these editorial disputes are bound to emerge no matter what happens, maybe it says something in itself about our thoughts and ideologies if these searches are top of searches, is it google trying to manipulate our ideologies in ways that are determental to their publicity or simply because data suggests that that is what we tend to search as an overall majority, probably the latter. There's obviously an issue that needs to socially and politically be addressed before media platforms can completely change.
It seems that this is very true that human editors seem needed. From most the media research we have done so far the main problem seems to be with the fact that there are automatic and algarhythms used to make editorial decisions in regard to the presentation of content. It seems that this automatic content causes for a lot of problems amoungst the audience especially in terms of the ethical issues it raises. However, it is not to say that a human editor will make complete a just decisions where ideologies can be different but also on a platform that serves as a major marketing tool and aims to make a profit from its services and products. Therefore these editorial disputes are bound to emerge no matter what happens, maybe it says something in itself about our thoughts and ideologies if these searches are top of searches, is it google trying to manipulate our ideologies in ways that are determental to their publicity or simply because data suggests that that is what we tend to search as an overall majority, probably the latter. There's obviously an issue that needs to socially and politically be addressed before media platforms can completely change.
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