Open, to What End? A Capability-Theoretic Perspective on Open Search

2026-03-15

AI Summary

This study addresses growing concerns about ideological manipulation and opinion control stemming from the monopolization of search platforms by major technology firms. It argues that current “open search” initiatives struggle to challenge entrenched power structures due to the absence of a clear, actionable definition of “openness.” To resolve this, the paper introduces Amartya Sen’s capability approach into the discourse on open search, proposing that openness should be measured not by whether a system is open-source, but by the substantive capabilities it empowers users to exercise. Drawing on an interdisciplinary synthesis of digital platform governance, political economy, and information ethics, the research clarifies key tensions inherent in open search frameworks and offers both a theoretical foundation and practical pathways for developing standards that are more resistant to manipulation and genuinely oriented toward user empowerment.

Technology Category

• Search and Optimization: Other Foundations of Search & Optimization
• Constraint Satisfaction and Optimization: Search
• Application Domains: Humanities & Computational Social Science

Application Category

• Responsible Web: Algorithmic accountability and transparency on the web
• Social Networks and Social Media: Media and governance, opinion dynamics, filter bubbles, polarization
• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: The sharing economy

Abstract

The hegemony of control over our search platforms by a few large corporations raises justifiable concerns, particularly in light of emerging geopolitical tensions and growing instances of ideological imposition by authoritarian actors to manipulate public opinion. Recent movement for promote open search has emerged in response. This follows from past and ongoing push for openness to challenge corporate oligopolies (e.g., open source and open AI models) which have seen significant ongoing negotiations and renegotiations to establish standards around what constitutes being open. These tensions have hindered these movements from effectively challenging power, in turn allowing powerful corporations to neutralize or co-opt these movements to further entrench their dominance. We argue that the push for open search will inevitably encounter similar conflicts, and should foreground these tensions to safefguard against similar challenges as these adjacent movements. In particular, we argue that the concept of open should be understood not with respect to what is being made open but through a capability-theoretic lens, in terms of the capabilities it affords to the actors the system is being opened to.

Problem

• open search
• corporate hegemony
• capability theory
• ideological imposition
• power asymmetry

Innovation

• open search
• capability theory
• corporate hegemony
• openness
• digital power