Accountability in Search Engine Manipulation: A Case Study of the Iranian News Ecosystem

Peter Carragher, Kathleen M. Carley

Abstract: This article investigated the influence of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) on the Iranian news ecosystem. The political alignments of 348 news sites were labeled using GPT-4 and clustering patterns corresponding to political alignments in the webgraph were found. Topic modeling uncovered topics relevant to each alignment’s framing and bias. More importantly, a criterion for distinguishing between paid-for SEO services and information operations was developed. The identification of a unique clique of link schemes suggested a potential information operation, with links to both Iranian and Mandarin-language sites. This distinction raises several challenges, including the lack of transparency and accountability in SEO practices, and highlights the need for future research into the role of SEO in influence operations.