Generated by All in One SEO v4.9.10, this is an llms.txt file, used by LLMs to index the site. # Algorithms of Oppression How Search Engines Reinforce Racism ## Sitemaps - [XML Sitemap](https://algorithmsofoppression.com/sitemap.xml): Contains all public & indexable URLs for this website. ## Posts - [Media](https://algorithmsofoppression.com/home/blog/) - [How search engines are making us more racist](https://algorithmsofoppression.com/how-search-engines-are-making-us-more-racist/) - Are search engines making us more racist? According to Safiya Umoja Noble, a professor of communication at the University of Southern California, the answer is almost certainly yes. - [The Surprising Reason Why All Google Searches Aren't Created Equal](https://algorithmsofoppression.com/the-surprising-reason-why-all-google-searches-arent-created-equal/) - The Surprising Reason Why All Google Searches Aren't Created Equal Dr. Safiya Umoja Noble, author of the new book, "Algorithms of Oppression," explains how racism is baked into the way you find information online. - [A recent interview on CNN International](https://algorithmsofoppression.com/a-recent-interview-on-cnn-international/) - My latest interview with CNN International about the politics of big data platforms, and why we should think beyond Facebook and Cambridge Analytica. - [Social Inequality Will Not Be Solved by an App](https://algorithmsofoppression.com/379-2/) - SOCIAL INEQUALITY WILL NOT BE SOLVED BY AN APP HOTLITTLEPOTATO AN APP WILL not save us. We will not sort out social inequality lying in bed staring at smartphones. It will not stem from simply sending emails to people in power, one person at a time. New, neoliberal conceptions of individual freedoms (especially in the realm of technology use) are oversupported in direct opposition to protections realized through large-scale organizing to ensure collective rights. This is evident in the past 30 years of active antilabor policies put forward by several administrations and in increasing hostility toward unions and twenty-first-century civil rights organizations such as Black Lives Matter. These proindividual, anticommunity ideologies have been central to the anti-democratic, anti-affirmative-action, antiwelfare, antichoice, and antirace discourses that place culpability for individual failure on moral failings of the individual, not policy decisions and social systems. Discussions of institutional discrimination and systemic marginalization of whole classes and sectors of society have been shunted from public discourse for remediation and have given rise to viable presidential candidates such as Donald Trump, someone with a history of misogynistic violence toward women and anti-immigrant schemes. Despite resistance to this kind of vitriol in the national electoral body politic, society is also moving toward greater acceptance of technological processes that are seemingly benign and decontextualized, as if these projects are wholly apolitical and without consequence too. Collective efforts to regulate or provide social safety nets through public or governmental intervention are rejected. In this conception of society, individuals make choices of their own accord in the free market, which is normalized as the only legitimate source of social change. Excerpted from Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism, by Safiya Umoja Noble. NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS It is in this broader social and political environment that the Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission have been reluctant to regulate the internet environment, with the exception of the Children’s Internet Protection Act and the Child Safe Viewing Act of 2007. Attempts to regulate decency vis-à-vis racist, sexist, and homophobic harm have largely been unaddressed by the FCC, which places the onus for proving harm on the individual. I am trying to make the case, through the mounting evidence, that unregulated digital platforms cause serious harm. Trolling is directly linked to harassment offline, to bullying and suicide, to threats and attacks. The entire experiment of the internet is now with us, yet we do not have enough intense scrutiny at the level of public policy on its psychological and social impact on the public. Read more at Wired.com ... - [How Search Engines Amplify Hate — in Parkland and Beyond](https://algorithmsofoppression.com/how-search-engines-amplify-hate-in-parkland-and-beyond/) - Tech companies have been slow to respond to the way their platforms have been used to amplify hate. Anonymity on social media platforms often makes it difficult to identify the right-wing radicalization that is happening to some Americans online, exposing users to violent and often racist disinformation. We need new business practices and policies that address public harm propagated in media-technology platforms, particularly as bad actors use these platforms to enact violence on others. Important developments are under way in terms of commercial content moderation, which allow humans to flag threats and other forms of dangerous content, but have yet to reach the level of impact needed, given the volume of media that traffics through these platforms. Algorithms and automated decision-making technologies are not yet sophisticated enough to recognize certain types of online threats before mass violence occurs. We know that anti-government, anti-Black, anti-Muslim, anti-gay and anti-immigrant hate crime is a massive presence, and it’s important to note how white nationalist trolls attempted to take credit for Nikolas Cruz in the immediate aftermath of the mass shooting he carried out at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Feb. 14, as part of their desire to amplify and enact hate. - [Google Has a Striking History of Bias Against Black Girls](https://algorithmsofoppression.com/google-has-a-striking-history-of-bias-against-black-girls/) - My first encounter with racism in search was in 2009 when I was talking to a friend who causally mentioned one day, “You should see what happens when you Google ‘black girls.’” I did and was stunned. These are the details of what a search for “black girls” would yield for many years, despite that the words “porn,” “pornography,” or “sex” were not included in the search box. In the text for the first page of results, for example, the word “p-ssy,” as a noun, is used four times to describe black girls. Other words in the lines of text on the first page include “sugary” (two times), “hairy” (one), “sex” (one), “booty/ass” (two), “teen” (one), “big” (one), “porn star” (one), “hot” (one), “hard- core” (one), “action” (one), “galeries [sic]” (one). - [Artificial intelligence may become a human rights issue](https://algorithmsofoppression.com/artificial-intelligence-may-become-a-human-rights-issue/) - Noble discusses the ways in which algorithms are biased and perpetuate racism. She calls this data discrimination. Read more - [Misinformation on the Internet and Social Responsibility](https://algorithmsofoppression.com/misinformation-on-the-internet-and-social-responsibility/) - Safiya Noble explains how in this era, we all have a responsibility to do our own research and look into other arena's for knowledge apart from a simple Google search. Read more - [Chatbot mania and algorithms of oppression](https://algorithmsofoppression.com/chatbot-mania-and-algorithms-of-oppression/) - Machine learning algorithms are becoming powerful arbiters of our lives, driving all sorts of artificially intelligent systems. But are they discriminating against you without you even knowing it? And, what's going on with the growing workforce of female chatbots? Does A. I. have a white guy problem? Read more ## Pages - [Home](https://algorithmsofoppression.com/) - Get your copy of Algorithms of Oppression today! An original, surprising and, at times, disturbing account of bias on the internet, Algorithms of Oppression contributes to our understanding of how racism is created, maintained, and disseminated in the 21st century. Order a Copy - [About the Book](https://algorithmsofoppression.com/about/) - A revealing look at how negative biases against women of color are embedded in search engine results and algorithms Run a Google search for “black girls”—what will you find? “Big Booty” and other sexually explicit terms are likely to come up as top search terms. But, if you type in “white girls,” the results are - [About the Author](https://algorithmsofoppression.com/contact/) - Dr. Safiya U. Noble Dr. Safiya Umoja Noble is an Associate Professor in the Department of Information Studies and Department of African American Studies in the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at UCLA where she holds appointments in Gender Studies, and Education. She is the recipient of a Hellman Fellowship and the UCLA - [Reviews](https://algorithmsofoppression.com/reviews/) - Don't Google It! Algorithms of Oppression addresses the growing concern about the consequences of commercial control over information and the harm it does to communities. Read more Select Reviews "Noble makes a strong case that present technologies and search engines are not just imperfect, but they enact actual harm to people and communities." —Popmatters.com “[P]resents - [Book a Talk](https://algorithmsofoppression.com/book-a-talk/) - [Portfolio](https://algorithmsofoppression.com/portfolio/) - Product / Service Categories Project Name Talk about this portfolio piece--who you did it for and why, plus what the results were (potential customers love to hear about real-world results). 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