Algorithms of Oppression

Safiya Umoja Noble’s book Algorithms of Oppression is an exploration of the prejudices that technology perpetuates as a result of the prejudices that those interacting with the digital space hold. Consequently, these flaws lead search engines to generate results that perpetuate harmful stereotypes and bolster the beliefs of hate groups, which have led to acts of violence against minority groups. This book discusses issues that are still relevant such as Search Engine Optimization (SEO) which can push certain narratives forward with their results, without checking if they are accurate or not. This can affect scholarly areas like the humanities where misinformation can quickly spread due to SEO pushing forward certain results. Noble reveals how corporate interests dominate SEO which ultimately undermines smaller voices. This creates a frustrating digital environment in which hegemonic voices continue to dominate the conversation. This disadvantages academics whose work does not get prioritized and instead bigoted and false information gets promoted.

The most striking chapter to me while reading was chapter three which details the racially motivated hate crime at “Mother” Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina in 2015 where nine people died in the attack. This attack was carried out as a result of the shooter googling “black on white crime” and the results leading to far-right conservative hate groups promoting anti-black rhetoric. This attack was only possible due to search results that allowed Google results to show hateful websites that perpetuate violence. Google does not take any responsibility in these cases and takes a stance of neutrality and distances themselves from the results of their search engine. In reference to search results that appear when looking up “black teen” or “white teen” that reinforce harmful stereotypes, Noble states on page 80 “In typical fashion, Google reported these search results as an anomaly, beyond its control, to which I responded again, “If Google isn’t responsible for its algorithm, then who is?”” Taking blame away from Google leads one to wonder who takes the blame and what can be done to change things? Again, this disadvantages academics whose goal is to learn and spread knowledge with Google promoting false information and hateful rhetoric this causes a barrier for students and professors alike seeking and distributing knowledge.