The fake news on the Internet has been a hot topic since last year’s US presidential election. Wrong information pretended to be like fact and spread quickly around social media. In addition, a problem of ‘Google Search’ came up which has been a long-standing issue.
If you type “are Jews” in the Google search box, you get the top results in “are Jews evil?” in Google’s auto-complete query feature. If you type “are women” and it turns out “women women evil?” (women are demons), “do blacks” (black people) are “do blacks commit more crimes?” (black people commit more crimes) , And “are muslims” (for Muslims) were autocompleted as “are muslims bad?” (Muslims are bad).
The search results were also messed up. If you search with “Is the Jews a demon?” on Google, 90% of the page “confirms” Jews are demons. Google’s top search results, which I thought were reliable, were not always the right answer. Google search seemed to have a big problem in terms of search term autocomplete, search term ranking, also with top search result box.
What risks do these results have? We receive information unconsciously by looking at the words presented in the query completion function. For example, when you hit the name of a presidential candidate, people’s perceptions may change depending on what the following words are.
As we all know, the Internet is a space created by many people. They are the ones who make choices. But we do not know exactly what they are doing. Both Google and Facebook do not disclose what algorithms information is retrieved and extracted. But fake news followed the Google search controversy and giant media tech companies needed to be responsible for the results of their algorithm.
This is not a problem for ‘Google’ alone. It is the whole ‘Internet’ that has become part of our lives. There is currently no way to stop information that affects us, including misinformation that spreads across the Internet, content that promotes hatred, or extreme right sites.
So is the impact of the Internet actually changing the world? What is certain is that some groups that are pursuing a particular interest are constantly monitoring people’s Internet activity and these data are being used by companies that produce personalized promotional materials or data-driven strategies. The site you clicked on will determine the information that will continue to appear on your computer in the future.
“The general public is completely unaware of fundamental problems with Internet search and its impact. The Internet is perhaps the most powerful machine in human history, able to dominate and control human thoughts and ideas. But we cannot even think about the possibility of such a doubt. “said, Robert Epstein, psychologist of the American Institute of Behavioral Technology (AIBRT)
Obviously, the Internet is the main source of information for modern people and is a useful tool. But at the same time, it has a great power. Why not think about the facts regarding what we see on the Internet?
– Jihye Jeong (UB Intern)
