Last month, Donald Trump accused Google and many other social media sites, namely Twitter and Facebook, for allegedly “intentionally suppressing” conservative news outlets that are supportive of his administration. He tweeted, “they are controlling what we can & cannot see. This is a very serious situation-will be addressed!” This Friday, Google’s chief executive, Sundar Pichai, sent an email to employees stating that Google has never and will never bias its search results for political purposes. However, this was followed up by a Wall Street Journal article stating that in early 2017 Google employees’ discussed in an internal email the possibility of including pro-immigration content in search after President Trump’s travel ban was put in place. In response, Gina Scigliano, a Google spokeswoman claimed that the ideas were not put into effect and was just a brainstorming session among employees. Currently, Google, Facebook and Twitter have denied political bias in the algorithmic tailoring of news content. Google did not attend the congressional hearing this month addressing lawmakers’ questions about social media manipulation which was attended by Twitter’s chief executive, Jack Dorsey, and Facebook’s chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg.
Discussion Questions:
1.Do you think search engines have some power over the information that citizens seek?
2.Do you think Donald Trump’s points are valid?
3.In what ways do you think social media bias can impact our democracy?
I think as it stands, it is possible for private companies to wield massive power over the information provided to citizens. Algorithms to govern what search results appear would not be at all difficult to implement, and it would not be a stretch to think it has been done already. SHOULD these sites be able to control what people see? I think absolutely not. Though roads are often constructed by states or private companies, they still fall under government control because they are used for the public good. The same goes for schools. I think since these outlets are so critical for the socialization of young Americans, the government should ensure that each search engine is an OPEN avenue for a multiplicity of differing sources. Of course, the government should never be able to RESTRICT what information gets out to the people. I think since many of these companies are based in the most liberal part of the US, and since these companies have made moves such as removing ad sense from certain videos and blocking personalities, Donald Trump's conjecture is not ill advised. I think social media has the ability to greatly sway the section of the population that only uses social media as a means of obtaining information. While this section of the population may be limited in scope, it is still a chunk of the electorate, and swaying it either way could change election results.
ReplyDelete1.Do you think search engines have some power over the information that citizens seek? Yes, they have a ton of power of the information citizens seek, they have shown in the past their ability to control it.
ReplyDelete2.Do you think Donald Trump’s points are valid? Yes, for the most part there have been many instances of censoring of Republicans and little to none censoring the left.
3.In what ways do you think social media bias can impact our democracy? It can lead to people hating and mistrusting certain people due to the influx of stories from only one perspective, as well as the constant putting down of those on the opposing political side.
I believe that search engines wield immense power over how people get their information as many go to Google or other websites in their first destination on the internet. I don't believe that Trump's points are valid as I believe Google doesn't have an intention for censoring Trump, but it can be possible for internal employees to have an agenda. I believe as social media increases, more and more people will get their news online and it is up to them on how they want to take it. It can feed into more polarization, but it also can bring more people into the political conversation.
ReplyDelete^ Jeremy Ho
DeleteRegarding the first question, I think that the search engines might have some power and influence over the people seeking information online. For example, when inserting something in the search engine google automatically gives suggested topics similar to the search,so people have be influenced by some of the suggestions. Social media bias impacted on what people tend to look for information and which sites they use. Most people tend to use sources that match our point of view, so that limits people from looking at all aspects of the situation.
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ReplyDeleteSearch engines are powerful since they provide search users with a ranking of the websites they've determined as most popular/relevant. They get to decide which sites/documents are the most valuable in providing the answers that people search the web for. Due to the history of tech companies like Facebook and Twitter hiding conservative issues, Trump's points are indeed valid. There have been reports from former employees that news curators from Facebook have purposefully not put conservative content in the trending section. Social media bias has a negative impact on our democracy as companies like Twitter have the power to decide what information gets blocked from the public. Facebook, in particular, has a fast-checking process that examines what videos, photos, and articles are "potentially false." The censorship of individual opinions particularly from the conservative side violates freedom of speech, which poses a significant threat to our democracy.
ReplyDeleteOf course search engines control our access to information, however it's unlikely that the algorithm was intentionally biased. If the algorithms did favor one side over another, it was probably not intentional, just a result of the how the searching system was programmed, to maximize user interest, so of course it would be more likely to prioritize sources that are more likely to be clicked on, biased sources. Furthermore, the algorithm also uses a ranking system based on some factors on an article, such as outside mentions, which may skew the data reported unintentionally. Media bias can affect our democracy by allowing people to reject any information they disagree with as "fake news" by blaming bias. However there is also legitimate bias that spreads disinformation and polarizes people.
ReplyDeleteSearch engines have immense control over the content that people see, especially since people tend to turn to search engines like Google in order to answer questions and find information. Google does currently suppress results for illegal content, but it is unlikely that they will intentionally favor one political side in search results. In the end, how Google handles search results will be based on whether or not it is advertiser-friendly. Certain obviously inflammatory results are likely to be removed by Google in order to avoid potential controversies that may result in the advertisers to withdraw their support.
ReplyDeleteSearch engines absolutely have the ability to affect what the average person sees if they make a google search. Therefore, Trump does have the right to be mad even if google only considered emphasizing pro-immigration search results. However, I believe Trump is over-exaggerating the extent of Googles actions,claiming that Google did in fact alter search results to match their political beliefs. In actuality, the Goggle team only had talks about doing this.
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