Investigating Google's Search Engine: Ethics, Algorithms, and Machines Built to Read Us

Key Chapter Title List

1. Introduction: Investigating Google's Search Engine
2. Google's Dominant Position
3. The Three Steps of How a Search Engine Works: Crawling, Ranking, and Query Results
4. Five Key Challenges in Studying Google's Search Engine
5. Understanding Google Queries and the Problem of Intent
6. Google's Impact on Cognition and Memory: History, Concepts, and Techno-Social Practices
7. Autocomplete: Stereotypes, Bias, and Designed Discrimination
8. Google's Search Engine Results: What is a Relevant Result?
9. The True Cost of Search Engines: Digital Advertising, Linguistic Capitalism, and the Rise of Fake News
10. Conclusion: What if Search Engines Were Really Built for the Benefit of Users?
11. Acknowledgements
12. References

Document Introduction

This book, Investigating Google's Search Engine: Ethics, Algorithms, and the Machines Built to Read Us, is an in-depth investigation into the social, ethical, and philosophical impacts of Google's search engine. The research does not remain at the technical level but instead examines Google Search at the intersection of digital cultural studies, information science, philosophy, and political economy. The author, Rosie Graham, argues that Google's search engine has not only changed how we access information but has also profoundly shaped individual thinking, collective memory, and communication patterns in a globalized world. Its role as an information gatekeeper has had an unprecedented influence on social attitudes, political discourse, and capital flows.

The research report first establishes Google's near-monopoly position in the search engine market (over 91% global share) and analyzes the mechanisms through which it consolidates its dominance via algorithms (such as PageRank) and its technological ecosystem (such as the Android system and default setting agreements). Subsequently, the report deconstructs the basic workflow of a search engine—"crawling, ranking, and returning results"—and systematically points out five major methodological challenges in studying this system: involving multiple actors (such as the SEO industry), dynamically changing targets, the localized perspective of each search, the lack of true alternatives, and the limitations of the "black box" metaphor.

The core body of the research consists of five thematic chapters. The first chapter analyzes the nature of search engine queries, critiques the mainstream framework that views search as an "intent database," and, drawing on the philosophical ideas of Plato, Gadamer, and Derrida, argues for the ambiguity of search intent and the shift in ethical responsibility brought about by Google's algorithms intervening in the interpretation process. The second chapter explores Google's impact on cognition and memory. By reviewing historical shifts from oral culture and writing technologies to "mnemonics," it deconstructs the myth of "natural memory," pointing out that thinking has always been intertwined with technology and social practices, thereby providing a more complex picture for understanding the cognitive embedding of search engines.

The third chapter focuses on the highly controversial "Autocomplete" feature. The research reveals how this feature systematically generates and reinforces stereotypes and discrimination based on gender, race, sexual orientation, etc., and for the first time proposes the concept of "second-order stereotypes"—that bias is not only reflected in associations with generic terms but also hidden in associations with the names of specific individuals (such as female scientists). The report further questions the common misconception that "Autocomplete reflects popular searches," pointing out that its machine learning components may actively generate rather than passively reflect bias. The fourth chapter, through the first longitudinal study on LGBTQ+ topics (2015, 2017, 2021), empirically demonstrates how the "relevance" of search results varies drastically based on geographic location, query language, wording, and phrasing, even presenting completely opposing moral stances from positive support to severe homophobia, thereby challenging Google's claimed objectivity and neutrality.

The fifth chapter extends the critique to the political-economic sphere, analyzing Google's advertising business model centered on "AdWords" and "AdSense." The report argues how this model, through economic incentives, facilitates the spread of fake news (e.g., the 2016 U.S. presidential election), exacerbates the decline of global linguistic diversity, and "monetizes" discrimination. Finally, the conclusion calls for reimagining the design logic of search engines, proposing that they should truly serve user interests, combat discrimination, promote public debate, and inspire a better future for the web.