Memory, counter-memory and denialism: How search engines circulate information about the Holodomor-related memory wars

Abstract

Search engines, such as Google or Yandex, shape social reality by informing their users about current and historical phenomena. However, there is little research on how search engines deal with contested memories, which are subjected to ontological conflicts known as memory wars. In this article, we investigate how search engines circulate information about memory wars related to the Holodomor, a mass famine caused by Soviet repressive politics in Ukraine in 1932-1933. For this aim, we conduct an agent-based audit of four search engines - Bing, DuckDuckGo, Google, and Yandex - and examine how their top search results represent the Holodomor and related memory wars. Our findings demonstrate that search engines prioritize interpretations of the Holodomor aligning with specific sides in the memory wars, thus becoming memory warriors themselves.