First it was an Android mascot peeing on the Apple logo. Then it was some stupid, juvenile maps jokes submitted as “fact” which caused them to suspend Map Maker submissions. Now, Google Maps is facing more serious problems as users have complained that the highly offensive N-word has been showing up on the map and in search queries, and it’s even in reference to the official residence of the most powerful man in the US. But Google is taking the bull by the horns and saying they are addressing and fixing the situation.
A Twitter user first tweeted about the problem which leads people to the White House if you search for variations of the n-word plus the word house. People started picking it up on social media and then the media outlets reported on it. This led to Google making an immediate email statement saying, “Some inappropriate results are surfacing in Google Maps that should not be, and we apologize for any offense this may have caused.”
Google admits that there is a failure in the system, which uses content about businesses and other public places when giving search results on Google Maps. They theorize that the reason for this unexpected search result was because people have been using the offensive term in discussions about the place. In other words, the racist people who are talking about that place (probably offensively) have influenced the search results, and this faulty algorithm is something that the search giant is trying to address.
Google says that it has already fixed the problem for “majority of these searches”, so it’s still possible some users may still see that result when they search (so just don’t search for it okay?). While they may be facing harsh criticism from netizens over this latest brouhaha, at least Google is acknowledging that there is something wrong and they’ve profusely apologized and is working on fixing this.
SOURCE: Google
VIA: CNN
