How Search Engines Handle Suicide Queries

Cosgrove, Victoria E.; Cryst, Elena; Grossman, Shelby; Perkins, Shelby; Meter, Anna Van

doi:10.54501/jots.v1i1.16

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…This is distinct from prior work, which used search engines to locate abortion clinics across the United States (Cartwright et al, 2018), in that we consider a localized view from the perspective of a hypothetical search engine user located in a particular US county. Similar assessments of search result quality have been recently performed for searches related to mental health, suicide (Borge et al, 2021;Haim et al, 2017), and urolithiasis (kidney, bladder or urethra stones) (Chang et al, 2016). A general -related web pages has also been proposed (Oroszlányová et al, 2018), and researchers with access to search engine logs have focused on queries to understand user information needs (Abebe et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 83%

Googling for Abortion: Search Engine Mediation of Abortion Accessibility in the United States

Mejova

Gracyk

Robertson

2022

JQD

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Among the myriad barriers to abortion access, crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) pose an additional difficulty by targeting women with unexpected or “crisis” pregnancies in order to dissuade them from the procedure. Web search engines may prove to be another barrier, being in a powerful position to direct their users to health information, and above all, health services. In this study we ask, to what degree does Google Search provide quality responses to users searching for an abortion provider, specifically in terms of directing them to abortion clinics (ACs) or CPCs. To answer this question, we considered the scenario of a woman searching for abortion services online, and conducted 10 abortion-related queries from 467 locations across the United States once a week for 14 weeks. Overall, among Google’s location results that feature businesses alongside a map, 79.4% were ACs, and 6.9% were CPCs. When an AC was returned, it was the closest known AC location 86.9% of the time. However, when a CPC appeared in a result set, it was the closest one to the search location 75.9% of the time. Examining correlates of AC results, we found that fewer AC results were returned for searches from poorer and rural areas, and those with TRAP laws governing AC facility and clinician requirements. We also observed that Google’s performance on our queries significantly improved following a major algorithm update. These results have important implications concerning health access quality and equity, both for individual users and public health policy.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 83%

Googling for Abortion: Search Engine Mediation of Abortion Accessibility in the United States

Mejova

Gracyk

Robertson

2022

JQD

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“…Although we focused on identifying search directives that appeared in the text of social media posts written in English, they can also occur in a variety of media (such as TV broadcasts, newspapers, or radio), and can be delivered via a variety of formats (including images, audio, or videos). This focus on search directives in English may mean that our study provides lower bound estimates, as there is evidence that content moderation on major platforms is limited for languages other than English (Borge et al 2021). For multimedia search directives, future work should explore methods for systematically collecting them, and investigate their potential to be doctored (e.g., showing fake search results in an image or video).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Another case we found was search directives where the poster recommended search terms in non-English languages. Searching in another language can have a large impact on the search results returned (Borge et al 2021), and could potentially be used to lead viewers to a data void without the use of a hyper-specific query. For example, one post prompted viewers to search for "western media" in Russian:…”

Section: Authorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying Search Directives on Social Media

Robertson,

Dunphy,

Grossman

et al. 2023

jots

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This study introduces methods for identifying search directives — content that could prompt an online search — and explores their presence on social media. Search directives can be an effective tool for indirect online influence, because instead of guiding people directly to content (e.g., a news article), they indirectly guide people to it through an independent intermediary (e.g., Google Search). By directing viewers to "do their own research" on a known, trusted, or seemingly objective intermediary, search directives have advantages in terms of both persuasion, by making people feel as if they discovered the content on their own, and evasion, by not directly posting the target link(s). Here we present a framework for identifying search directives on social media that includes methods for automated discovery, classification, and query extraction. Data we collected from social media demonstrate the widespread use of search directives, provide construct validity for our definition, and support our framing of search directives as a form of indirect online influence. Last, we report three case studies that highlight the immediate value of identifying search directives to researchers, practitioners, and journalists focused on online trust and safety.

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The relationship between online searches and suicide

Acosta-González,

Gallegos,

Mosquera

2024

Int J Soc Psychiatry

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Aims: In this study, we examined the relationship between 131 suicide related Google search terms, grouped into nine categories, and the number of suicide cases per month in Ecuador from January 2011 to December 2021. Methods: First, we applied time-series analysis to eliminate autocorrelation and seasonal patterns to prevent spurious correlations. Second, we used Pearson’s correlation to assess the relationship between Google search terms and suicide rates. Third, cross-correlation analysis was used to explore the potential delayed effects between these variables. Fourth, we extended the correlation and cross-correlation analyses by three demographic characteristics – gender, age, and region. Results: Significant correlations were found in all categories between Google search trends and suicide rates in Ecuador, with predominantly positive and moderate correlations. The terms ‘stress’ (.548), ‘prevention’ (.438), and ‘disorders’ (.435) showed the strongest associations. While global trends indicated moderate correlations, sensitivity analysis revealed higher coefficients in men, young adults, and the Highlands region. Specific patterns emerged in subgroups, such as ‘digital violence’ showing significant correlations in certain demographics, and ‘trauma’ presenting a unique temporal pattern in women. In general, cross correlation analysis showed an average negative correlation of −.191 at lag 3. Conclusion: Google search data do not provide further information about users, such as demographics or mental health records. Hence, our results are simply correlations and should not be interpreted as causal effects. Our findings highlight a need for tailored suicide prevention strategies that recognize the complex dynamics of suicide risk across demographics and time periods.

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How Search Engines Handle Suicide Queries

Cited by 3 publications

References 31 publications

Googling for Abortion: Search Engine Mediation of Abortion Accessibility in the United States

Googling for Abortion: Search Engine Mediation of Abortion Accessibility in the United States

Identifying Search Directives on Social Media

The relationship between online searches and suicide

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