Abstract
Many conservative public figures have claimed that Google Search exhibits a liberal bias in the links presented. Surprisingly, perhaps, the few scientific studies conducted so far have tended to support this claim. In the study reported here, we compared Google search engine result pages (SERPs) for 8 terms related to immigration across 8 geographically distinct locations (municipalities). For each term, the top 30 generated search results were collected and rated by 5 independent evaluators in terms of (1) attitude towards immigration and (2) level of politicisation. Overall, the attitude toward immigration in returned search results was significantly positive, although the positive links tended to appear at somewhat lower positions in the list of search results. While most links were non-political, political links, too, tended to appear at lower positions, although the effect was minor. Both attitude and politicisation of SERPs varied considerably with the specific search term used. We did not find evidence for a location-induced bias, as the SERPs for different municipalities contained essentially the same links, albeit in somewhat different order. While the observed immigration-positive tendency itself may appear to fuel filter bubble concerns, the matter turns out to be complex. We identify the need for more research on several key issues.