Search Engine Bias
Although search engines are programmed to rank websites based on their popularity and relevancy, empirical studies indicate various political, economic, and social biases in the information they provide. These biases can be a direct result of economic and commercial processes (e.g., companies that advertise with a search engine can become also more popular in its organic search results), and political processes (e.g., the removal of search results to comply with local laws).
Biases can also be a result of social processes, as search engine algorithms are frequently designed to exclude non-normative viewpoints in favor of more "popular" results. Indexing algorithms of major search engines skew towards coverage of U.S.-based sites, rather than websites from non-U.S. countries. Major search engines' search algorithms also privilege misinformation and pornographic portrayals of women, people of color, and members of the LGBT community.
Google Bombing is one example of an attempt to manipulate search results for political, social or commercial reasons.
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