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How search engines disseminate information about COVID-19 and why they should do better
Abstract 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... view more
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.... view less
Keywords
online service; epidemic; algorithm; source of information; search engine; information; disinformation
Classification
Information Science
Interactive, electronic Media
Free Keywords
COVID-19; coronavirus; pandemic; Baidu; Bing; DuckDuckGo; Google; Yandex; Yahoo
Document language
English
Publication Year
2020
Journal
Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review, 1 (2020) 3
Issue topic
Special Issue on COVID-19 and Misinformation
DOI
https://doi.org/10.37016/mr-2020-017
ISSN
2766-1652
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed