How search engines disseminate information about COVID-19 and why they should do better
Access to accurate and up-to-date information is essential for individual and collective decision making, especially at times of emergency. On February 26, 2020, two weeks before the World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared the COVID-19’s emergency a “pandemic,” we systematically collecte...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Harvard Kennedy School
2020-05-01
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| Series: | Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://misinforeview.hks.harvard.edu/article/how-search-engines-disseminate-information-about-covid-19-and-why-they-should-do-better/ |
| _version_ | 1818393483604393984 |
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| author | Mykola Makhortykh Aleksandra Urman Roberto Ulloa |
| author_facet | Mykola Makhortykh Aleksandra Urman Roberto Ulloa |
| author_sort | Mykola Makhortykh |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Access to accurate and up-to-date information is essential for individual and collective decision making, especially at times of emergency. On February 26, 2020, two weeks before the World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared the COVID-19’s emergency a “pandemic,” we systematically collected and analyzed search results for the term “coronavirus” in three languages from six search engines. We found that different search engines prioritize specific categories of information sources, such as government-related websites or alternative media. We also observed that source ranking within the same search engine is subjected to randomization, which can result in unequal access to information among users. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-14T05:46:02Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b1ae4725b7b94cdd9da167c52ae4f86a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2766-1652 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-14T05:46:02Z |
| publishDate | 2020-05-01 |
| publisher | Harvard Kennedy School |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review |
| spelling | doaj.art-b1ae4725b7b94cdd9da167c52ae4f86a2022-12-21T23:14:52ZengHarvard Kennedy SchoolHarvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review2766-16522020-05-011310.37016/mr-2020-017How search engines disseminate information about COVID-19 and why they should do betterMykola Makhortykh0Aleksandra Urman1Roberto Ulloa2Institute of Communication and Media Studies, University of Bern, SwitzerlandInstitute of Communication and Media Studies, University of Bern, SwitzerlandComputational Social Science Department, GESIS-Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, GermanyAccess to accurate and up-to-date information is essential for individual and collective decision making, especially at times of emergency. On February 26, 2020, two weeks before the World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared the COVID-19’s emergency a “pandemic,” we systematically collected and analyzed search results for the term “coronavirus” in three languages from six search engines. We found that different search engines prioritize specific categories of information sources, such as government-related websites or alternative media. We also observed that source ranking within the same search engine is subjected to randomization, which can result in unequal access to information among users.https://misinforeview.hks.harvard.edu/article/how-search-engines-disseminate-information-about-covid-19-and-why-they-should-do-better/covid-19search enginessocial media |
| spellingShingle | Mykola Makhortykh Aleksandra Urman Roberto Ulloa How search engines disseminate information about COVID-19 and why they should do better Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review covid-19 search engines social media |
| title | How search engines disseminate information about COVID-19 and why they should do better |
| title_full | How search engines disseminate information about COVID-19 and why they should do better |
| title_fullStr | How search engines disseminate information about COVID-19 and why they should do better |
| title_full_unstemmed | How search engines disseminate information about COVID-19 and why they should do better |
| title_short | How search engines disseminate information about COVID-19 and why they should do better |
| title_sort | how search engines disseminate information about covid 19 and why they should do better |
| topic | covid-19 search engines social media |
| url | https://misinforeview.hks.harvard.edu/article/how-search-engines-disseminate-information-about-covid-19-and-why-they-should-do-better/ |
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