arXiv:2502.17542cs.SIcs.CY2025-02被引 3

分析谷歌搜索警告栏机制,揭示其内容审核的不透明与失效问题。

Data Voids and Warning Banners on Google Search

  • 通过140万社交媒体查询数据,追踪谷歌警告栏触发情况。
  • 仅1%查询获警告,且低质警告频繁消失,与结果质量无关。
  • 模型发现远超警告数量的低质信息空洞,适合关注算法透明者阅读。

社交媒体内容审核广受关注,但搜索引擎的内容管理仍不明朗。例如,谷歌搜索在面对低质量、低相关性或快速变化的信息时,会在搜索页顶部显示三种对应的警告横幅。我们收集了140万条社交平台分享的搜索查询,以识别谷歌的警告横幅,分析其触发时机与原因,并训练深度学习模型识别谷歌未标记的“数据空洞”。在2023年10月、2024年3月和9月三次数据采集中,谷歌对约1%的查询显示警告横幅,且跨周期变动剧烈。其中,“低质量”警告(提示结果可能缺乏可靠信息)极为罕见,且与低质域名及阴谋类关键词相关。即使返回相似结果,警告状态也频繁波动。2024年8月起,该警告不再出现,但平均结果质量无明显变化,暗示其可能已被停用。利用模型分析查询与结果上下文,我们识别出比警告多29至58倍的低质量数据空洞,且在警告消失后仍存在类似数量。研究呼吁提升搜索引擎内容治理的透明度,尤其在选举等关键事件期间。

原文摘要 · Abstract (English)

The content moderation systems used by social media sites are a topic of widespread interest and research, but less is known about the use of similar systems by web search engines. For example, Google Search attempts to help its users navigate three distinct types of data voids--when the available search results are deemed low-quality, low-relevance, or rapidly-changing--by placing one of three corresponding warning banners at the top of the search page. Here we collected 1.4M unique search queries shared on social media to surface Google's warning banners, examine when and why those banners were applied, and train deep learning models to identify data voids beyond Google's classifications. Across three data collection waves (Oct 2023, Mar 2024, Sept 2024), we found that Google returned a warning banner for about 1% of our search queries, with substantial churn in the set of queries that received a banner across waves. The low-quality banners, which warn users that their results "may not have reliable information on this topic," were especially rare, and their presence was associated with low-quality domains in the search results and conspiracy-related keywords in the search query. Low-quality banner presence was also inconsistent over short time spans, even when returning highly similar search results. In August 2024, low-quality banners stopped appearing on the SERPs we collected, but average search result quality remained largely unchanged, suggesting they may have been discontinued by Google. Using our deep learning models to analyze both queries and search results in context, we identify 29 to 58 times more low-quality data voids than there were low-quality banners, and find a similar number after the banners had disappeared. Our findings point to the need for greater transparency on search engines' content moderation practices, especially around important events like elections.

搜索引擎内容审核数据空洞透明度

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