Google搜索结果中的算法误判：审计美国在线选举信息环境的证据
Algorithmic Misjudgement in Google Search Results: Evidence from Auditing the US Online Electoral Information Environment
AI总结：
本文审计2022年美国中期选举期间Google搜索结果，发现州、县和地方政府选举信息来源的出现有71%发生地理错误定向，并强调正确本地定向的重要性。
摘要：
Google搜索是人们获取政治信息的重要途径，而Google表示其“致力于在Google搜索上提供及时、权威的信息，以帮助选民了解、引导并参与民主进程”。本文研究政府维护的网络域名在在线选举信息环境中的呈现程度；相关环境通过2022年美国中期选举期间、针对美国各地786个地点收集的345万个Google搜索结果页面来捕捉。我们聚焦于提供特定地点信息的州、县和地方政府域名，不仅研究这些来源在自然搜索结果中的出现程度，也研究它们被正确定向给各自选民的程度。我们将非联邦域名所服务的地理区域与其在搜索结果中出现的地点之间的不匹配标记为算法错误定向，这是算法误判的一个子类型，即搜索算法把特定地点信息定向给处于不同（错误）地点的用户。在2022年美国中期选举背景下，我们发现州、县和地方政府来源的所有出现中有71%被错误定向；尽管某些域名提供的特定地点信息可能并非与所有选民相关，它们仍在自然结果中过于频繁地出现。然而，我们也发现错误定向往往发生在较低排名。最后，我们考察非联邦政府来源被广泛错误定向的潜在后果，并主张确保这些来源被正确定向给各自选民，是Google在促进获取权威且与本地相关的选举信息方面所承担角色的关键部分。
英文摘要：
Google Search is an important way that people seek information about politics, and Google states that it is ``committed to providing timely and authoritative information on Google Search to help voters understand, navigate, and participate in democratic processes.'' This paper studies the extent to which government-maintained web domains are represented in the online electoral information environment, as captured through 3.45 Google Search result pages collected during the 2022 US midterm elections for 786 locations across the United States. Focusing on state, county, and local government domains that provide locality-specific information, we study not only the extent to which these sources appear in organic search results, but also the extent to which these sources are correctly targeted to their respective constituents. We label misalignment between the geographic area that non-federal domains serve and the locations for which they appear in search results as algorithmic mistargeting, a subtype of algorithmic misjudgement in which the search algorithm targets locality-specific information to users in different (incorrect) locations. In the context of the 2022 US midterm elections, we find that 71% of all occurrences of state, county, and local government sources were mistargeted, with some domains appearing disproportionately often among organic results despite providing locality-specific information that may not be relevant to all voters. However, we also find that mistargeting often occurs in low ranks. We conclude by considering the potential consequences of extensive mistargeting of non-federal government sources and argue that ensuring the correct targeting of these sources to their respective constituents is a critical part of Google's role in facilitating access to authoritative and locally-relevant electoral information.
机构、总结、中文摘要均由AI分析而来，可能存在错误，请以论文正文为准。
