this post was submitted on 21 Sep 2023
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Technology
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You're right. This is the real problem with search engines like Google and one reason I use SearXNG instances and Mojeek instead. Where I live, the algorithm is more likely to net content that is biased toward right-wing conspiracy theories and problematic agencies because of that algorithm. Any search engine that does this is not a valid search engine, in my opinion.
Yes I had a family member in a right wing conspiracy area. It was infuriating because his friends would tell him their nonsense and he would be skeptical and google it, only for google to seemingly support what they were saying.
I couldn't replicate his results at all and it would take a lot of searching to even find what he was talking about so I could debunk it for him.
I became hyper aware of it the first time I tried using Tik Tok, and I was served nothing but alt-right hate videos. Obviously, search engines aren't usually quite so obvious, but for instance, people in my location are certainly more likely to net results connected to far-right ideas and agencies, because of the interests of people who live here.
I don't like that idea at all. Search engines should only respond to deliberate input from the user imo. I know that's a big ask for people to acclimate to appending "in [location name]" if they expect location specific results, but the convenience of just saying "hey Google, restaurants near me" is not worth the consequences.
Unfortunately, almost all search engines are complicit, including supposedly privacy friendly ones like Kagi, Qwant, and Startpage. I'm no longer recommending those to people. SearXNG and Mojeek are the only ones that don't lean into the algorithmic and locational fuckery, but even that's with a lot of tweaking the settings.
It's no great mystery why things like fascism are on the rise. And people will say I'm in the minority for caring about this, and ... yeah, that's the problem.