  What is search-engine bias, and why is it controversial? In reviewing the literature on this topic, it would seem that the phrase “search-engine bias” has been used to describe at least three distinct, albeit sometimes overlapping, concerns: (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.