Do Web search engines suppress controversy?
by Susan L. Gerhart. First Monday,
Volume 9, Number 1 Ñ January 5th 2004.

Web behavior depends upon three interlocking communities: (1) authors whose Web pages link to other pages; (2) search engines indexing and ranking those pages; and (3) information seekers whose queries and surfing reward authors and support search engines. Systematic suppression of controversial topics would indicate a flaw in the WebÕs ideology of openness and informativeness. This paper explores search enginesÕ bias by asking: Is a specific wellÐknown controversy revealed in a simple search? Experimental topics include: distance learning, Albert Einstein, St. JohnÕs Wort, female astronauts, and Belize. The experiments suggest simple queries tend to overly present the “sunny side” of these topics, with minimal controversy. A more “Objective Web” is analyzed where: (a) Web page authors adopt research citation practices; (b) search engines balance organizational and analytic content; and, (c) searchers practice more wary multiÐsearching.

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