Warning: This paper contains content that may be offensive or upsetting. Online search engine auto-completions make it faster for users to search and access information. However, they also have the potential to reinforce and promote stereotypes and negative opinions about a variety of social groups. We study the characteristics of search auto-completions in two different linguistic and cultural contexts: Baidu and Google. We find differences between the two search engines in the way they suppress or modify original queries, and we highlight a concerning presence of negative suggestions across all social groups. Our study highlights the need for more refined, culturally sensitive moderation strategies in current language technologies.
@article{arxiv.2405.01917,
title = {A comparison of online search engine autocompletion in Google and Baidu},
author = {Geng Liu and Pietro Pinoli and Stefano Ceri and Francesco Pierri},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2405.01917},
year = {2024}
}