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24 Empowering citizens

Democracy at risk from new

forms of internet inuence
by Robert Epstein, PhD

Research shows how undecided voters can be swayed by search engines or social media platforms
in the run-up to an election.

The free and fair election is fundamental to

democracy, but the internet has made possible new,
 

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for several years now. Left unchecked, these forms of
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of voters in the newly-drawn districts will vote for that

  

 
like Facebook could easily accomplish the same sort of

  

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one candidate or party. In close elections, which are
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media companies already send out customised ads to
 

 

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location, purchase histories, and other factors. They

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25

Patrick McCartley

Empowering citizens


 
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Facebook Flash Ads

In a controlled study conducted in 2010, researchers
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employees at Facebook, demonstrated that repeatedly
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an election day in the US caused 340,000 more people to
vote than otherwise would have. The sample of people
who received the vote prompts was supposedly selected
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personal information about its users, the company could

    
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certain candidates or parties.

Search Engine Manipulation Effect

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experiments we have completed with more than 4,000
participants in two countries, we have demonstrated
    
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search results favour one candidate that is, make him
 
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preferences of twenty per cent or more of undecided
voters shift toward that candidate.
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infallible mechanism that is beyond human control.
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behaviour which shows that people trust and believe
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Robert Epstein
is Professor of Psychology at The University
 
     
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Inuence that is invisible to people

is the most dangerous kind, because it
leaves people falsely believing that they
are choosing freely that they are not
being inuenced at all

 
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two search results, and more than 90 per cent of users
  
    
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When companies, candidates, or political parties
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the players with more resources have always had the
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26 Empowering citizens

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unfairly favours its own products and services in
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Lok Sabha election research

Our most recent experiment, conducted
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especially relevant to this question. Our previous
research had focused on elections that were
already completed and on candidates who were
unknown to the participants in order to minimise
          
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real voters in the midst of an intense, hotly  
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found in our previous experiments, exposure
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with the candidates.

Google ned for biased search

rankings
That we conducted this research in India
  

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political candidates based on search volumes
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with internet access were still undecided in the
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internet access, whatever the impact of biased
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information from internet sources a number


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Keeping track
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to determine the extent to which they are biased
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needs; it provides free services so that it can
collect relevant information about every user.
With the company able to identify individuals
       
reliability, it is also able to send out customised
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problem here is that monitors would have no

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Our research also demonstrates that the vast
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Empowering citizens

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Threat of monopolistic search

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online search business were in the hands of a
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and in many other countries around the world
       
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SEME (Search Engine Manipulation

Effect), we have concluded, is almost
certainly already inuencing close
elections around the world

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deem preferable for their business needs, our
     
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candidates over others; when this happens, the
preferences of undecided voters will shift towards
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effect.
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