Biased by Google

                Google over the years has become an entity that has the power to control what people all over the world see. How is this possible. Through the power of their search engine. In a Ted Talk video, Swedish writer Andreas Ekstrom challenges what we know, or think we know about how the multinational corporation handles the information displayed through its search engines.

In his video, Ekstrom sheds some light on how Google is biased to the information that each query returns. He vividly painted a picture of how the search results were manipulated by uploads of unflattering images of the First Lady, Michelle Obama, and a Swedish terrorist, Anders Behring Breivik. Now this is where it gets interesting, upon realizing that these images were floating around and being circulated about the U.S. President’s wife, Google removed these images via manually rewriting the code. In the case of the terrorist, images of dog feces were used to insult and protest the cowardly and heinous acts that resulted in the death of eighty people. These images went unmolested by Google. Ekstrom concludes that just as its users have biases based on our strong beliefs, there is a man behind the written code that has biases as well. With any technology that arises currently, there is a human element that will have these biases and the thought of unbiased information on the web is a myth.

                Ekstrom’s work in this video was very well delivered and incredibly powerful. The purpose was to show that Google has the ability to control the results of any search result. Yes, search results are filtered through relevancy, but the watchful eye of google can ultimately determine what is shown when the query is entered. The purpose of Ekstrom’s work is very relevant to our everyday lives. Google is the number one search engine in the world, utilized by hundreds of millions of people daily and returning billions of articles deemed to be relevant to the search requests.    

                I think Ekstrom was very clear in his message of the power that these biases hold. It is not only a matter of ethics and morality that it is necessary for Google to have such control. As many instances in the past have indicated that such powerful corporations have to control the information put forth by them and their affiliates. In the past, companies such as Apple have put on hold the release of apps on their devices that are deemed inappropriate or offensive to not only individuals, but to groups, religions, or even countries. News affiliates similarly regulate what they air determined by the biases of their political alignment or government issued direction. I feel that this in necessary because it can be a dangerous game of “he said, she said.” These corporations know that on a worldwide scale, it is better to be cautious than to ignite a firestorm of controversy with their CEO’s and chief editors in the crosshairs.

                Just as the examples that Ekstrom made evident, the manipulation of search images and results is too easy. Having the ability to change an image of a person is one thing. Having a group of misfits start falsifying or offending those that have the ability to declare international and intercontinental warfare should be avoided at all cost. In that case, the corporations that have the power can and should step in and limit the damage. This I would consider a worst-case scenario. In all likelihood, that scenario is a bit improbable with the amount of surveillance that our government has in place. A more likely scenario would be that some pop star is going to get their feelings hurt by some stalker trying to maim their image. In that case, let it ride Google.