Confirmation bias, or the selective collection of evidence, is our subconscious tendency to seek and interpret information and other evidence in ways that affirm our existing beliefs, ideas, expectations, and/or hypotheses. Therefore, confirmation bias is both affected by and feeds our implicit biases. It can be most entrenched around beliefs and ideas that we are strongly attached to or that provoke a strong emotional response.
Credit: Facing History and Ourselves. Lesson 3: "Confirmation and Other Biases."
Watch: Defining Confirmation Bias
Read: How to Escape Your Political Bubble for a Clearer View
Social media and web search engine algorithms are deliberately opaque. Algorithms often reinforce our existing biases.Unlike media stories, how these online tools distribute fake news is not open to scrutiny. In this opinion article from the New York Times How to Monitor Fake News Tom Wheeler suggests a way to open up social media algorithms to public scrutiny without compromising individual privacy.
This video from the Southern Poverty Law Center shows how the Google searching algorithm effectively narrowed the perspective of Dylann Roof because he searched for white supremacy information. Other points of view are not represented as Google search results privilege hate sites.