Improve your contact center performance. See how you can make a difference.
Watch Now
Engage and build your ICT audience with CIOL online advertising.
Know more
BANGALORE, INDIA: If you are searching for an image of the US First Lady Michelle Obama use Google search, you may end up in an unpleasant surprise, as the first image in the search result could be an offensive one.
When the image that resembles a monkey, which was apparently hosted by the Website buzzoverm.blogspot.com, was detected recently, the search giant promptly removed it but then it reappeared again on another Website called "hot girls" blog.
Expressing apology over the incident, Google posted a statement in Ad Space, which read, "Sometimes our search results can be offensive. We agree..."
The statement reads like this:
"Sometimes Google search results from the Internet can include disturbing content, even from innocuous queries. We assure you that the views expressed by such sites are not in any way endorsed by Google.
"Search engines are a reflection of the content and information that is available on the Internet. A site's ranking in Google's search results relies heavily on computer algorithms using thousands of factors to calculate a page's relevance to a given query."
It said the beliefs and preferences of those who work at Google, as well as the opinions of the general public, do not determine or impact our search results. However, the search giant made it clear that it won't remove the offensive image.
"Individual citizens and public interest groups do periodically urge us to remove particular links or otherwise adjust search results. Although Google reserves the right to address such requests individually, Google views the integrity of our search results as an extremely important priority. Accordingly, we do not remove a page from our search results simply because its content is unpopular or because we receive complaints concerning it," it read.
However, Google said it would remove pages from its results if the page (or its site) violated its Webmaster Guidelines.
Do you feel something fishy about the image? A racist prejudice, maybe?!