These slides provide the basic talking points for a series of talks I did in Paris, Rome and Berlin from the 11th through the 13th of July 2017. The talk was based on the Quello Center project on 'The Part Played by Search in Shaping Public Opinion', which was supported by a grant from Google.

1. A Critical Perspective on Fake News, Echo
Chambers, and Filter Bubbles
William H. Dutton @BiIIDutton
Quello Professor of Media and Information Policy
Quello Center, Michigan State University
@QuelloCenter
Paris, Rome, Berlin, 11-13 July 2017

2. Panic
Fake
News
Filter
Bubbles
Echo
Chambers
Immediatefuture.co.uk
Medium.com

3. The Part Played by Search in Shaping Political Opinion
• Quello Center team in collaboration with the Oxford
Internet Institute (OII), University of Oxford and
Department of Communication, University of Ottawa
• Professor William H. Dutton (Quello)
• Dr. Bianca C. Reisdorf (Quello)
• Dr. Grant Blank (OII)
• Dr. Elizabeth Dubois (Ottawa)
• With the assistance of:
• Craig Robertson (PhD Student, Quello)
• Sabrina Ahmed (BA Student, Ottawa)
• Support from Google, with thanks to Jon Steinberg

4. Centrality of Information to
Democratic Processes
Mass Media
•News, Radio, Television, and the Fourth
Estate
The Internet and Search
•Search Engines, Algorithms, Social
Media, User Choice, and a Fifth Estate

5. The Role of Search?
Enable citizens to make well political
decisions?
Distort the information citizens gain
access to and choose in taking
political decisions and actions?

6. Key Questions
How do media and search shape public opinion
and actions?
How does personalization shape the results of
search? Creating a filter bubble?
How does populism shape search and vice versa?
Social media creating surges, and echo chambers?

7. Technological Determinism
• More Informed Rational Citizens, Voters
• Social Media Movements, Surges
• Filter Bubbles
Social Determinism
• Spiral of Silence
• Power Law
• Echo Chambers
Social and Technical Shaping of Democratic Processes
• Agenda Setting
• Cue Taking and Giving (“group think”) - Two-Step Flow
• Werther Effects
• Fifth Estate (enabled by search and social media)
Multiple Theoretical Perspectives

8. Approach:
Cross-National Comparative Research
Report on Search and Politics
Review of
Literature
Comparative
Trace Data
Comparative
Survey of 7
nations
Britain
France
Germany
Italy
Poland
Spain
United States
14,000 Internet Users,
January 2017

9. Comparative Approach
Literature
Review
Survey
Questionnaire
Trace Data

10. Comparative Questions
How national, regional cultures and
media systems might shape patterns
of search?
Will individual differences matter
more or less?

11. The Centrality of Search
Origins in WWW as Mountain of Trash
Becoming the first place people go for information
After email, search is one of the most common use of
the Internet
Politics is a limited, specialized topic of search

12. Frequency of Using a Search Engine
France Germany Italy Poland Spain UK US Total
Never
1.4 0.14 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.5 1.1 0.54
Less than monthly
1.4 2.02 0.8 0.1 0.6 2.5 3 1.5
Monthly
1.8 2.4 0.8 0.2 1.4 2.4 2.4 1.62
Weekly
12.1 17.5 6.9 2.7 6.5 14.2 11.3 10.1
Daily
22.5 28.9 19.3 21.8 19.8 24.3 20 22.4
Greater than once per day
60.9 49.0 72.1 75 71.4 56.2 62.3 63.85
Total N
1,972 1,972 1,979 1,992 1,989 1,961 1,995 13,859
Total percent
100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100

13. The Purpose of Search
3.19
3.19
3.22
3.44
3.57
3.66
3.87
3.97
0 1 2 3 4
Mean results out of 5
Find entertaining content
Politics and current events
Medical or health questions
Check accuracy of news,info
Look up news on topic, event
Look up fact(s)
Navigation to sites
Info about particular topic
0=never; 4=very often

14. Politics in the World of Search: Google
Trends in Search: 2010 to 2016
0
2
4
6
8
10
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Year
Political Possibly political Not political
The top ten most commonly searched general terms, news/events, and people for the years 2010 to 2016 were collected and analyzed
using data retrieved from Google’s annual “Zeitgeist” and Year in Review features.

15. The Reliability of Search:
A Learned Level of Trust
As reliable as other major sources, e.g., TV
Internet users in Poland, Italy, and Spain more trusting
in search than those in Germany, France, and Britain
One of first places people go for information about
politics

16. Reliability of Different Sources
2.69
3.35
3.41
3.41
3.47
3.49
3.52
0 1 2 3 4
Mean results out of 5
Social media
Television
Newspapers
Online news
Family, friends, colleagues
Radio
Search engine results
0=not reliable at all; 4=totally reliable

17. Reliability of Search Engine Results
France Germany Italy Poland Spain UK US Total
1 Total unreliable
2.6 2.6 1.7 0.7 0.7 1.5 1.1 1.5
2
7.9 8.3 5.6 6.1 7.5 6.9 5.7 6.8
3
39.9 44.8 37 36.6 36.9 40.7 39 39.2
4
40.7 38.1 46.9 46.8 44.8 42.6 42.8 43.3
5 Total reliable
9 6.3 8.9 9.8 10.1 8.3 11.4 9.1
Total N
1,910 1,920 1,938 1,958 1,966 1,895 1,950 13,537
Total percent
100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100

18. The Diversity of Sources
Those interested in politics look at
multiple (4.5) sources of information
More than two (2.4) offline, and more
than two (2.1) online
Search engines the most frequent online
source

19. Multiple Sources of Information about Politics
1.53
1.82
2.13
2.24
2.31
2.50
2.51
N
ever
Som
etim
es
O
ften
Very
often
Mean results out of 4
Charities, religious groups
Political websites
Radio
Print news
Family & friends
Online sources
TV

20. Online Sources of Information about Politics
2.36
2.52
2.54
2.88
3.02
3.07
3.49
N
ever
R
arely
Som
etim
es
O
ften
Very
often
Mean results out of 5
Political website
Email
Online video platforms
Social media
Online sites of news & mags
Online news sites
Search engines

21. The Diversity of Views Encountered Online
36 percent of sample read news they disagree with ‘often’
or ‘very often'’
Less than 20 percent un-friend or block others
Diversity of Views Among People Communicated
with Online (Table 4.25)
• 15%: Views Different from you
• 65%: Mixed Beliefs
• 20%: Same as you

22. Diversity of Views on Social Networks
Social Media Research (OxIS, et al)
• Maintains and enhances existing ties, over space
• Introduces new people, friends, meet in person
Diversifies the News Diet
• 2017 Reuters Institute Digital News Report
• News and politics not the central role of social media
• Social media use increases incidental exposure to additional
news sources, with more politically diverse news
Social, not Politically Centric, Media

23. Users Check, Confirm, Information
Multiple approaches to confirming
information
Over 80 percent use search to check facts
Three fourths (74%) use search to check
information on social media

24. Practices Tied to Confirming a Story
2.70
2.87
2.92
3.08
3.15
3.16
N
ever
R
arely
Som
etim
es
O
ften
Very
often
Mean results out of 5
Look for opinion of trusted source
Ask friend or family to confirm
Check different news sources
Check major offline news
Confirm by searching online
Read something disagree with

25. Other Patterns that Bust Bubbles
76 percent occasionally or often find information they
were not looking for (serendipity) through search
48 percent ‘often’ learn something new – serendipity
Many recognize ‘wrong’ information

26. Relative Prevalence of Practices
1.27
1.68
2.13
2.35
0 .5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
Mean results out of 5
Changed opinion on political issue
Find wrong information
Discovered important information
Learn something new
0=never; 3=often

27. Search Matters: Outcomes
Perceived to leads some to change
their opinion on an issue
Two-thirds of respondents say search
was important to their voting decisions

28. Importance of Online Search to Voting
France Germany Italy Poland Spain UK US Total
Not important
41.7 34.5 27.4 21.1 33.3 40.5 21 31.7
Important
58.3 65.5 72.6 78.9 66.7 59.5 79 68.3
Total N
1,496 1,486 1,666 1,129 1,617 1,559 1,568 10,520
Total percent
100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100

29. • Google Studie
• Forschungsfragen
• Methodologie
• Erste Resultate
• Bedeutung
• Diskussion
Factors Shaping Individual Differences in Search

30. Individual Factors Shaping Strong Search Practices
Political
• Interest in Politics
• Online political participation
Internet
• Skills
• Levels of Internet Use
• Mobile, Next Generation Users
Information
• Diversity of Sources
• Learned Level of Trust

31. Key Issues Moving Forward
Theoretical Perspectives
• Be more critical of deterministic perspectives
• Don’t underestimate users & social shaping of search
Interest in Politics
• Are those least interested & involved more vulnerable?
Skills in Search and Internet
• Are those offline or least skilled at greater risk?
• Can digital media literacy reduce risks?

32. Mitigating
Problems
Search for Info about
Politics
Diversity of
Sources/Viewpoints
Check, Confirm,
Information
Learn Something
New
Don’t Censor Others
Fifth Estate, Not
Mass Media

33. The Report Plus
Dutton, W.H., Reisdorf, B.C., Dubois, E., and Blank, G. (2017), Search
and Politics: The Uses and Impacts of Search in Britain, France,
Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, and the United States, Quello Center
Working Paper available on SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2960697
Dutton, W.H. (2017), ‘Fake News, Echo Chambers, and Filter
Bubbles: Underresearched and Overhyped’: https://theconversation.com/fake-
news-echo-chambers-and-filter-bubbles-underresearched-and-overhyped-76688
Dutton, W. H. (2017), ‘Bubblebusters’, NESTA. http://readie.eu/bubblebusters-
countering-fake-news-filter-bubbles-and-echo-chambers/