Web Search Personalization during the US 2020 Election

Ulrich Matter and Roland Hodler

American Economic Review: Insights, 2025, vol. 7, issue 4, 516-33

Abstract: We study the impact of web search personalization on ideological segregation in search results. We deploy 150 synthetic internet users with randomized partisan browsing preferences across 25 US cities. These users are active during the US 2020 election and its aftermath. Daily experiments in which the users enter identical election-related queries provide strong evidence for ideological segregation in search results across locations with different partisan leanings but only limited evidence for ideological segregation within location across users with different partisan browsing habits. We discuss the important role of the national and local (online) media landscape for understanding these results.

JEL-codes: D72 D83 L82 L86 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1257/aeri.20240115

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