I voted left, but lefties may have a different opinion.
A good criteria would be tilt it to where the search field is, so it points to it. If the field is on the left, tilt it left; if it is on the right, tilt it right.
Seems the theory matches the answers. The number of people answering right matches the number of left-handed people on average. A very interesting point. Are we discriminating against left-handed people with those icons?
My rationale for it is that with a real magnifying glass it is nicer to have the handle near the hand you are going to use it with, so most of people instinctively would tend to prefer it that way.
Makes sense to me, too. I am mostly a desktop user.
Ana's explanation matches with me, too. For whatever reason, I tend to visualize that icon as a thing on the right of the search field (usually in a button), not on the left.
Funny. It's like I was predestined to chose 🔍.
@jgg I'm right-handed (though I don't really get why that has anything to do with it) and I'm shocked to see most answered left, both here & on twitter. I would have never given it a second thought about using a 🔎 one had I not seen a 🔍 example.
My preference for 🔎 is because the magnifier icon button is usually to the right of the search field and the search happens after typing in the search field, so it makes sense the magnifying glass would point away from the search field = leaving action.