Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Do Google search results have a political bias?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–17 of 17 posts

Re: Ask HN: Do Google search results have a political bias?

#11

Post by kypro »

TonyBagODonuts wrote: post #6

I was shown the google image results for "happy white woman" vs "happy black woman" and the difference in results are stark. I do believe there's an agenda now, if it's internal to google or seo manipulation I don't know, but it's there.

I've seen people bring this up before and to play devils advocate here I've wondered before if this is more because white people/couples are seen as the default.

For example have you ever noticed how when a white guy achieves something it's reported like, "Physicist John Smith wins nobel prize", but were it a black guy it would be reported as, "Black Physicist John Smith wins nobel prize"? And beyond the title the content of the second article will often be how white guys are over represented and that this is a sign of progress.

So perhaps this is what we should expect to see given any article which discusses white women as a group is probably in relation to some racial issue faced by black women.

Re: Ask HN: Do Google search results have a political bias?

#12

Post by 9123840812938 »

kypro wrote: post #11
TonyBagODonuts wrote: post #6

I was shown the google image results for "happy white woman" vs "happy black woman" and the difference in results are stark. I do believe there's an agenda now, if it's internal to google or seo manipulation I don't know, but it's there.

I've seen people bring this up before and to play devils advocate here I've wondered before if this is more because white people/couples are seen as the default. For example have you ever noticed how when a white guy achieves something it's reported like, "Physicist John Smith wins nobel prize", but were it a black guy it would be reported as, "Black Physicist John Smith wins nobel prize"? And beyond the title the co…

It is a failure of google to display relevant results, whether intentional or not, we cannot say.

Do you think people searching "happy white woman" are exclusively looking for interracial couples of a white woman and black man? Highly doubtful.

On other other hand, every image returned by "happy black woman" is literally a happy black woman.

Re: Ask HN: Do Google search results have a political bias?

#14

Post by giardini »

TonyBagODonuts wrote: post #6

I was shown the google image results for "happy white woman" vs "happy black woman" and the difference in results are stark. I do believe there's an agenda now, if it's internal to google or seo manipulation I don't know, but it's there.

Quite a striking difference! The first page of "happy black woman" shows black women being happy, mostly alone but "happy white woman" shows white women with men at least half the time and about half of those are men of color!

I tried a few variations and can only conclude that Google has become a piece of shite as far as search is concerned. I hear it's still OK for translation but, if the current situation continues, they'll soon be mistranslating to some unknown purpose.

Re: Ask HN: Do Google search results have a political bias?

#15

Post by muzani »

TonyBagODonuts wrote: post #6

I was shown the google image results for "happy white woman" vs "happy black woman" and the difference in results are stark. I do believe there's an agenda now, if it's internal to google or seo manipulation I don't know, but it's there.

Ironically, this is the top result: https://theconversation.com/googles-algorithms-discriminate-...

Re: Ask HN: Do Google search results have a political bias?

#16

Post by p0d »

I think we see a more liberal agenda playing out through big tech as it supports their ethos. That is, jobs/marketing aimed at the current obsession with diversity and support for immigration. I get immigration as the world is global and we need a global workforce.The latter I find weird. I turned 50 this week and have observed society to have become more angry and frightened over the last 30 years. It does not surprise me then that Google's tech follows and creates bias. Ironic.

Re: Ask HN: Do Google search results have a political bias?

#17

Post by aborsy »

kypro wrote: post #11
TonyBagODonuts wrote: post #6

I was shown the google image results for "happy white woman" vs "happy black woman" and the difference in results are stark. I do believe there's an agenda now, if it's internal to google or seo manipulation I don't know, but it's there.

I've seen people bring this up before and to play devils advocate here I've wondered before if this is more because white people/couples are seen as the default. For example have you ever noticed how when a white guy achieves something it's reported like, "Physicist John Smith wins nobel prize", but were it a black guy it would be reported as, "Black Physicist John Smith wins nobel prize"? And beyond the title the co…

Interesting. I can’t help but notice something is at play!
Post reply on HN