Ulrich Matter
Title
Prof. Dr.
Last Name
Matter
First name
Ulrich
Email
ulrich.matter@unisg.ch
Phone
+41 71 224 3158
Web Site
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Item type:Publication, Search engines, online news, and political polarization(2022-07-25)Many have argued that the algorithmic personalization of information provision can lead to segregation and political polarization. We test this conjecture for the case of online news search via Google. Our study design rests on 300 US-located synthetic web users (``bots'') with human-like appearance and randomized individual characteristics who were active from June to December 2021. We find that web search personalization increases informational segregation in news-related search results between users with liberal vs conservative political preferences, as well as between users with and without privacy settings. However, our evidence suggests that an increase in polarization due to personalized search results is rather unlikely. On the contrary, due to the overall dominance of a few rather centric news sites in news-related search results, ideology-updating users tend to move towards the political center.Type:presentation - Some of the metrics are blocked by yourconsent settings
Item type:Publication, Search Engines and Filter Bubbles During the
2020 US Elections(2020-03-31)Search engines play a central role in routing political information to citizens. The algorithmic personalization of search results by large search engines like Google implies that different users may be offered systematically different information. However, measuring the causal effect of user characteristics and behavior on search results in a politically relevant context is challenging. We set up a population of 150 synthetic internet users (“bots”) who are randomly located across 25 US cities and are active for several months during the 2020 US Elections and their aftermath. These users differ in their browsing preferences and political ideology, and they build up realistic browsing and search histories. We run daily experiments in which all users enter the same election-related queries. Search results to these queries differ substantially across users. Google prioritizes previously visited websites and local news sites. Yet, it does not generally prioritize websites featuring the user’s ideology.Type:presentation