Investigating Google’s Search Engine: Ethics, Algorithms, and the Machines Built to Read Us

Research output: Book/ReportBook

Abstract

What do search engines do? And what should they do? These questions seem relatively simple but are actually urgent social and ethical issues. The influence of Google's search engine is enormous. It does not only shape how Internet users find pages on the World Wide Web, but how we think as individuals, how we collectively remember the past, and how we communicate with one another. This book explores the impact of search engines within contemporary digital culture, focusing on the social, cultural, and philosophical influence of Google.

Using case studies like Google's role in the rise of fake news, instances of sexist and misogynistic Autocomplete suggestions, and search queries relating to LGBTQ+ values, it offers original evidence to intervene practically in existing debates. It also addresses other understudied aspects of Google's influence, including the profound implications of its revenue generation for wider society. In doing this, this important book helps to evaluate the real cost of search engines on an individual and global scale.
Original languageEnglish
PublisherBloomsbury Publishing
Number of pages256
Edition1st
ISBN (Electronic)9781350325210 (PDF), 9781350325227 (Epub & Mobi)
ISBN (Print)9781350325203, 9781350325197
Publication statusPublished - 12 Jan 2023

Publication series

NameBloomsbury Studies in Digital Cultures
PublisherBloomsbury Publishing

Keywords

  • Search Engine
  • digital culture
  • Software
  • platform capitalism
  • Technology
  • Ethics of technology
  • philosophy of technology
  • Algorithmic discrimination
  • Memory
  • Stereotypes
  • Silicon Valley
  • Google

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