Invisible in Search? Auditing Aesthetic Bias in the Visual Representation of Holocaust Victims on Google

TL;DR

This paper audits Google's visual search results for Holocaust victims, revealing gender bias and geographic variation that may influence societal perceptions and empathy towards victims.

Contribution

It provides a novel comparative analysis of aesthetic bias in search engine representations of Holocaust victims, highlighting ethical concerns and geographic disparities.

Findings

Google propagates male-dominated representations of Holocaust victims

Search results emphasize atrocity context, potentially reducing empathy

Representation varies across geographic locations

Abstract

Information retrieval systems, such as search engines, increasingly shape the representation of the past and present states of social reality. Despite their importance, these systems face challenges in dealing with the ethical aspects of representation due to various forms of bias, including aesthetic bias that perpetuates hegemonic patterns of representation. While most research on aesthetic bias has examined it in the context of current societal issues, it is also crucial for historical representation, particularly of sensitive subjects such as historical atrocities. To address this gap, we conduct a comparative audit of the visual representation of Holocaust victims on Google. We find that Google tends to propagate a male-dominated representation of Holocaust victims with an emphasis on atrocity context, risking rendering invisible gender-specific suffering and decreasing potential for nurturing empathy. We also observe a variation in representation across geographic locations, suggesting that search algorithms may produce their own aesthetic of victimhood.