“You can call it whatever you like, but this is a prison”: A sociotechnical audit of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Google reviews and ratings

An informed citizenry is thought to be key to democratic accountability, yet the question of where people can go online to evaluate the US administrative state is a sociotechnically complex one. Drawing on the lens of governmentality, this research argues that in its moderation of ratings and reviews, Google actively suppresses carceral information, narratives, and digital trace data related to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) detention facilities. It interrogates Google’s role in shaping the visibility of carceral institutions through content moderation. The study draws on a scraping audit of Google reviews of ICE detention facilities. The governmentality employed by Google shows how search engines can—on an ad hoc basis—limit attempts to circulate carceral narratives. Though this study focuses on carceral institutions in the United States, the method is transferable to other jurisdictions, including to countries, whose governments are now co-producing carceral infrastructure at the request of the Trump administration.