The growing volume of online content prompts the need for adopting algorithmic systems of information curation. These systems range from web search engines to recommender systems and are integral for helping users stay informed about important societal developments. However, unlike journalistic editing the algorithmic information curation systems (AICSs) are known to be subject to different forms of malperformance which make them vulnerable to possible manipulation. The risk of manipulation is particularly prominent in the case when AICSs have to deal with information about false claims that underpin propaganda campaigns of authoritarian regimes. Using as a case study of the Russian disinformation campaign concerning the US biolabs in Ukraine, we investigate how one of the most commonly used forms of AICSs - i.e. web search engines - curate misinformation-related content. For this aim, we conduct virtual agent-based algorithm audits of Google, Bing, and Yandex search outputs in June 2022. Our findings highlight the troubling performance of search engines. Even though some search engines, like Google, were less likely to return misinformation results, across all languages and locations, the three search engines still mentioned or promoted a considerable share of false content (33% on Google; 44% on Bing, and 70% on Yandex). We also find significant disparities in misinformation exposure based on the language of search, with all search engines presenting a higher number of false stories in Russian. Location matters as well with users from Germany being more likely to be exposed to search results promoting false information. These observations stress the possibility of AICSs being vulnerable to manipulation, in particular in the case of the unfolding propaganda campaigns, and underline the importance of monitoring performance of these systems to prevent it.

翻译：网络内容日益增多，促使人们采用算法化信息系统来管理信息。这些系统从网络搜索引擎到推荐系统，在帮助用户了解重要社会发展方面不可或缺。然而，与新闻编辑不同，算法化信息管理系统（AICSs）已知存在多种形式的性能缺陷，使其容易受到操纵。当AICSs需要处理支撑威权政权宣传活动的虚假声明信息时，操纵风险尤为突出。以俄罗斯关于乌克兰美国生物实验室的虚假信息运动为例，我们研究了最常用的AICSs形式之一——即网络搜索引擎——如何策展与虚假信息相关的内容。为此，我们于2022年6月对Google、Bing和Yandex的搜索结果进行了基于虚拟代理的算法审计。我们的研究结果揭示了搜索引擎令人担忧的表现。尽管某些搜索引擎（如Google）返回虚假结果的可能性较低，但在所有语言和地区中，这三个搜索引擎仍提及或推广了相当比例的虚假内容（Google为33%；Bing为44%；Yandex为70%）。我们还发现，基于搜索语言的虚假信息暴露存在显著差异，所有搜索引擎在俄语搜索结果中呈现的虚假故事数量更多。地理位置也产生影响，来自德国的用户更可能接触到推广虚假信息的搜索结果。这些观察结果强调了AICSs可能易受操纵，尤其是在持续进行的宣传活动中，并突出了监控这些系统性能以防止此类情况的重要性。