People, not search-engine algorithms, choose unreliable or partisan news(nature.com)
nature.com
People, not search-engine algorithms, choose unreliable or partisan news
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06078-5
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06078-5
"To address these gaps, we conducted a two-wave study pairing surveys with ecologically valid measures of both exposure and engagement on Google Search during the 2018 and 2020 US elections. In both waves, we found more identity-congruent and unreliable news sources in participants’ engagement choices, both within Google Search and overall, than they were exposed to in their Google Search results. These results indicate that exposure to and engagement with partisan or unreliable news on Google Search are driven not primarily by algorithmic curation but by users’ own choices."
Seems sensible enough. Though, they don't seem to understand that people, in turn, drive engagement algorithms.