Qwant, in partnership with BVA, published on May 17, a study about the French and digital freedom. It reveals that the French are more aware of “algorithmic bias”.
The expression algorithmic bubble refers to the phenomenon of selecting search results based on the user’s usual choices.
As a result of the hyper-profiling of users, the algorithmic bubble is only the result of search engine and social network strategies based on tracking…
Algorithmic confinement is an insidious and pernicious threat to our critical thinking and free will. Unsuspectedly, the results displayed actually correspond to what we want to see… or believe. It is therefore not only the witness of the non-neutrality of the Internet, but above all a real danger for our minds exposed to formatting by algorithms.
Eli Pariser, essayist at the origin of the expression, demonstrated by a simple example the algorithmic bias of the American search engine, you guessed it, Google! By typing BP into the search engine, for a person targeted on the right politically, the first search result referred to how to invest in British Petroleum, while for a person on the left, it was displayed the latest oil spill caused by the company…
A very disturbing practical-practical demonstration for our free will… and which perfectly illustrates algorithmic bias.
If, not surprisingly, the French are mostly suspicious of the Internet regarding respect for privacy, some of them are however divided between the many opportunities, it is true, offered by the Internet, and the very real threats that shake up our ideals in terms of protecting our privacy…
Knowledge of algorithmic confinement is progressing, since half of French people consider that the results displayed on the Internet are not neutral … However, 60% of French respondents are still convinced of the completeness of the information found on the internet.
Finally, 52% of French people say they do not have the means to fight against “confinement by algorithms” they are only 40% to believe they have the means (and only 12% to be “completely” convinced).
Finally, our study concludes that several factors play a role in the trust that our fellow citizens have in the Web: on the one hand, young people are more likely to see the Internet as an opportunity for privacy. On the other hand, the French with a diploma higher than Bac + 2 are more aware of the lack of neutrality of internet searches, and more likely to feel powerless in the face of algorithmic confinement …
Faced with this observation and the polarization of opinion regarding algorithmic confinement, much remains to be done to raise public awareness of filter bubbles and the threats they represent, while valuing the alternatives that exist, in Europe and France.
The French are sending a clear message to digital players: “Offer us the keys to a Better Web!”
Let it be said, at Qwant, neither hyper profiling nor tracking. This is a guarantee of the impartiality of the results of our search engine… and your freedom of thought!
Study methodology
This survey was conducted in March 2021 with a sample of 1004 people, representative of the French population aged 18 and over. The representativeness of the sample was ensured by the quota method applied to the following variables: sex, age, occupation of the household reference person and the respondent, region and agglomeration category.
