The Impact of Political Bias on Google Search Results

A study by researchers from Rutgers, Stanford, and Northeastern University found that Google search results provided more diverse and reliable news than readers were likely to click on. The study tracked the web browsing habits of over a thousand internet news consumers during the 2018 and 2020 US election cycles and found that just 31.3% of participants were responsible for 90% of all unreliable news exposures in 2018. The study also found that participants who self-identified as 'Strong Republican' were more likely to engage with both unreliable and highly partisan news online.