Do internet search engines stifle human cognition? - Observer Research Foundation

India must act fast to mitigate the high risks, ensure that search engines live up to their responsibilities, and be transparent

• Democracy
• Digital
• economy
• Internet
• National Security
• search engines

Not a truth engine

Indeed, what is true if the truth is often represented by page one results of a search engine? What if algorithmic advertising-driven search engine results control public discourse, which people trust as the gospel of truth? The challenge to “human cognition” by search engines is profound, as an average person conducts three to four searches or more. For instance, Google processes over 8.5 billion searches daily. Besides, 97 percent of 600 million devices in India run on Android. Studies show that the search engine has over 93.34 percent market share and receives 3.3 trillion-plus searches annually.

So, what could be the impact when a “dominant digital advertising giant” known as a “search engine” enjoys a monopoly in brokering and filtering people’s “free access” to the information? What do you do, faced with the consequent deteriorating quality of search engine results pages? Results that are riddled with search engine optimisation (SEO) arbitrageurs, advertising and affiliates; results that push users to the highest bidders; results that drive ephemeral experiences, subtly control your thinking and behaviour with biases, and Search Engine Manipulation Effect – without any paper trail. What do you do if “too many choices” on your screen are...

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