Google’s hegemonial stand, its algorithms, and possible interventions are at the focus of this event. ITA researcher Astrid Mager will present the results of her FWF project and bring together leading search engine researchers to discuss Google critique, regulation, and alternatives
With Google being front and center, search engines have been exposed again and again for not offering objective results. It has been proven that Google placed its own products on valuable “front-page real estate”, and notions such as the “Googlization of everything” underline its hegemonic position. It has a business model based on user profiling dubbed surveillance capitalism. More recently, Google’s algorithms have been found to output biased and discriminatory results. Building on this critique, what interventions are necessary and what are possible alternatives? How has regulation, specifically of Google and surveillant platforms more generally, responded to these developments? What else is to be done about the hegemony of Google, its vast personal data collection, its discriminatory results, and the governance and accountability of engines and other online platforms? Finally, how can we pave the way towards more open, just, and independent search engines and infrastructures in the future?
This public event brings together leading search engine scholars to discuss these questions from a European perspective. The evening opens with a talk by Astrid Mager, senior postdoc at the Institute of Technology Assessment (ITA) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, presenting the results of her project „Algorithmic Imaginaries“. It is followed by a lively panel discussion with international guests.
More information can be found here.