door: Safiya Umoja Noble
“The book addresses the relationship between search engines and discriminatory biases. Noble argues that search algorithms are racist and perpetuate societal problems because they reflect the negative biases that exist in society and the people who create them. Noble dismantles the idea that search engines are inherently neutral by explaining how algorithms in search engines privilege whiteness by depicting positive cues when key words like “white” are searched as opposed to “asian,” “hispanic,” or “Black.” Her main example surrounds the search results of “Black girls” versus “white girls” and the biases that are depicted in the results. These algorithms can then have negative biases against women of color and other marginalized populations, while also affecting Internet users in general by leading to “racial and gender profiling, misrepresentation, and even economic redlining.” The book argues that algorithms perpetuate oppression and discriminate against People of Color, specifically women of color.”
