search engine bias is particularly insidious

  A question is whether search engine companies have any special moral obligations, e.g., in light of their “privileged” placed in society as “gatekeepers of the Web”

What is search-engine bias, and why is it controversial?

(1) search-engine technology is not neutral, but instead has embedded features in its design that favor some values over others;

 (2) major search engines systematically favor some sites (and some kinds of sites) over others in the lists of results they return in response to user search queries; and 

(3) search algorithms do not use objective criteria in generating their lists of results for search queries.

While some users may assume that search engines are “neutral” or value-free, critics argue that search engine technology, as well as computer technology in general, is value-laden and thus biased because of the kinds of features typically included in their design. For example, Brey (1998, 2004) and others (see, for instance, Friedman and Nissenbaum 1996) have argued that computer technology has certain built-in features that tend to favor some values over others. Brey worries that some of these technological features have embedded values that are “morally opaque.” Because the values embedded in these features are not always apparent to the technical experts who develop computer systems,