University of Leipzig, Department of Communication and Media Studies, Germany.
Texas A&M University, Department of Communication, United States.
Drug Alcohol Depend. 2021 Sep 1;226:108874. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2021.108874. Epub 2021 Jun 25.
Numbers of drug-overdose deaths, both intentionally and unintentionally, have been increasing in the United States. Of interest, Google spotlights counselling services as helpful resources when users query for suicide-related search terms. However, the search engine does so at varying display rates, depending on terms used. Display rates in the drug-overdose deaths domain are unknown.
We emulated suicide-related potentially harmful searches at large scale across the U.S. to explore Google's response to search queries including or excluding additional drug-related terms. Employing agent-based testing we conducted 215,999 search requests with varying combinations of search terms.
Counseling services such as helpline telephone numbers were displayed at high rates after suicide-related potentially harmful search queries (e.g., "how to commit suicide"). While this is a desirable outcome, display rates were substantially lower when drug-related terms, indicative of users' suicidal overdosing tendencies, were added (e.g., "how to commit suicide fentanyl"). Importantly, the addition of any drug-related search term to the suicide-related queries decreased the display frequency of helpful prevention-related resources substantially.
Search queries such as "easy way to commit suicide fentanyl" may indicate acute suicidal crises. Helpful resources should be displayed right in such search moments. Search engines should adjust their algorithms to increase these display rates to direct users to such resources. By doing this, search engines may contribute to the prevention of drug-related suicides.
在美国，无论是故意还是非故意的药物过量死亡人数都在不断增加。有趣的是，当用户查询与自杀相关的搜索词时，谷歌会突出显示咨询服务作为有用的资源。然而，搜索引擎会根据使用的术语以不同的显示率来显示这些信息。在药物过量死亡领域的显示率是未知的。
我们在美国大规模模拟了与自杀相关的潜在有害搜索，以探索谷歌对包括或不包括其他药物相关术语的搜索查询的反应。我们采用基于代理的测试，对不同的搜索词组合进行了 215999 次搜索请求。
在与自杀相关的潜在有害搜索查询（例如，“如何自杀”）后，咨询服务（如热线电话号码）以高频率显示。虽然这是一个理想的结果，但当添加药物相关术语（例如，“如何自杀芬太尼”）表明用户有自杀过量的倾向时，显示率会大大降低。重要的是，在与自杀相关的查询中添加任何药物相关的搜索词都会大大降低有用的预防相关资源的显示频率。
搜索词，如“芬太尼轻松自杀”，可能表明急性自杀危机。在这种搜索时刻，应该显示有用的资源。搜索引擎应该调整其算法，以增加这些显示率，引导用户使用这些资源。通过这样做，搜索引擎可能有助于预防与药物相关的自杀。
