At Liberty Podcast
Computer Lab
At Liberty Podcast

Google This: Algorithmic Oppression

February 18, 2021

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33:31 mins

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Imagine you’ve forgotten once again the difference between a gorilla and a chimpanzee, so you do a quick Google image search of “gorilla.” But instead of finding images of adorable banana-obsessed animals, photos of a Black couple pop up.

Is this just a glitch in the algorithm? Or, is Google an ad company, not an information company, that’s replicating the discrimination of the world it operates in? How can this discrimination be addressed and who is accountable for it?

Our guest today, UCLA professor and best-selling author of “Algorithms of Oppression,” Dr. Safiya Noble answers these questions.

In this episode

A headshot featuring a white woman with red hair smiling at the camera

Molly Kaplan

Former Host of At Liberty, American Civil Liberties Union

Molly Kaplan is an Emmy-winning director who since 2012, has directed, executive produced, filmed, and edited hundreds of videos. Her work – in collaboration with some of the most talented filmmakers and animators in the country – has been screened at the Sundance Film Festival, DOC NYC, Alamo Drafthouse, Museum of the Moving Image and…
Molly Kaplan
Headshot of Safiya Noble. Safiya Noble looks directly into the camera. She is wearing a white and black polka dot shirt and her background is blurred.

Safiya Noble

Associate Professor at UCLA , UCLA

she/her/hers

Dr. Safiya Noble is an associate professor at UCLA in the Departments of Information Studies and African American Studies. She is the author of Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism, Director of the UCLA Center for Critical Internet Inquiry (C2i2), and a 2021 Macarthur “Genius” grant recipient.
Safiya Noble

This Episode Covers the Following Issues

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