Though entering medical questions into search engines has become common practice for many people, problematic algorithms at Google may actually highlight misleading or incorrect information, according to NPR.
Starting in 2014, Google began not only giving users results but also small answer boxes that their algorithms believe are most relevant to the question. However, research shows that oftentimes more reliable sources are buried beneath sources with few, if any, medical credentials. For instance, though Mayo Clinic finds colloidal silver to be unsafe, non-medical websites championing its health benefits are highlighted by Google while Mayo's entry languishes further down the results page.
Studies from Henry Brighton, PhD, an assistant professor of cognitive science and artificial intelligence at Tilburg University in the Netherlands, demonstrate the issue's importance because most people simply believe the first result to appear in their search engine, even if it isn't from the most reputable source.
"The ordering is everything," Dr. Brighton said. "So, the big finding is the degree to which we can manipulate people's healthcare decisions, even when these issues are really, really important, and we can do that simply by changing the rankings of search results."
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