THE RED HAT IS THE RED FLAG:

[I] Googled a few key phrases used in both of Nunes' speeches. The results demonstrate how politicians and pundits can exploit data voids to create ideological information silos. During each hearing, Nunes describes "the Russia collusion hoax." When you search for "collusion hoax," the links returned support the position that investigations into the president are bogus. The top links are from a story in The New York Post published just last week that Dems are trying to block Barr's probe into the "Russian collusion hoax" and a link to Amazon to purchase a book titled The Russia Hoax: The Illicit Scheme to Clear Hillary Clinton and Frame Donald Trump, by Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett.

Strategic signaling also drew attention to what the Mueller report did not focus on. On June 12, Nunes noted that the report had not procured any "useful information on figures who played key roles in the investigation such as Joseph Mifsud," a Maltese academic and figure in the George Papadopoulos case, "or the Democrat paid operative, former spy Christopher Steele," the British intelligence officer behind the now notorious pee tape allegations. In the days following Nunes' remarks, the search returns were primarily conservative content published anywhere between two weeks to 12 minutes before Nunes' speech. In addition to traditional conservative sources like Fox News, Washington Examiner, and National Review, there are also digital-first sources like the Daily Caller and the Daily Wire, as well as stories posted from more dubious publications like the Epoch Times.

In his most recent hearing Nunes mentions Nellie Ohr, the wife of former high-ranking Justice official Bruce Ohr. As I've detailed in previous writing and in my testimony before the Senate, when you search Nellie Ohr online, her name exists in an ideological vacuum, because only conservative media producers consider her a newsworthy topic. In his June 12 remarks Nunes argues that not only did the report prove false, it failed to investigate links between Democrat operatives at Fusion GPS and Russians, "in fact no comment on Fusion GPS at all." On September 26, Nunes furthered this conspiracy telling Congress that "Serhiy Leshchenko was a source for Nellie Ohr, wife of Department of Justice official Bruce Orh, as she worked on the anti-Trump operation conducted by Fusion GPS and funded by the Democrats." When you Google "Serhiy Leshchenko Nellie Ohr," the top news stories are by the Daily Caller, a right-wing news and opinion website founded by Fox News host Tucker Carlson and Neil Patel, and the Epoch Times. A simple search for "fusion gps" or "Nellie Ohr" leads users down a rabbit hole of allegations, misinformation, and QAnon conspiracy theories. These findings are not exclusive to Google. When you enter in the names of "Joseph Mifsud," "Nellie Ohr," or "Christopher Steele" into DuckDuckGo, the information returned is also primarily from conservative sources.

These findings reveal that existing studies on algorithms, filter bubbles, and misinformation online are missing a crucial component regarding the problem of political polarization, specifically data focused on how we access news and information. Epistemological frameworks can lead us into algorithmic rabbit holes. Understanding keyword signaling is an essential part of studying political polarization. While most focus on how output (e.g., search results or social media newsfeeds) keeps us in filter bubbles, more research is needed on how inputs are manipulated for political gain. This level of sophistication highlights how conservative groups systematically work to optimize their content for search and social media. 

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