Google apologises over Modi image search results

The Prime Minister's image started appearing for the Google search query 'Top 10 criminals in India'.

June 04, 2015 02:53 am | Updated 03:00 am IST - New Delhi

Google said that results to the query “top 10 criminals in India” was due to a British daily which had an image of Mr. Modi and erroneous metadata. File Photo

Google said that results to the query “top 10 criminals in India” was due to a British daily which had an image of Mr. Modi and erroneous metadata. File Photo

Internet giant Google on Wednesday apologised “for any confusion or misunderstanding” caused after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s images started appearing in image search results for query on “Top 10 criminals in India”.

“These results trouble us and are not reflective of the opinions of Google. Sometimes, the way images are described on the internet can yield surprising results to specific queries. We apologise for any confusion or misunderstanding this has caused. We’re continually working to improve our algorithms to prevent unexpected results like this,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement.

Google said that results to the query “top 10 criminals in India” was due to a British daily which had an image of Mr. Modi and erroneous metadata. It said that in this case, the image search results were drawn from multiple news articles with images of Mr. Modi and his statements with regard to politicians with criminal background. The spokesperson added that the news articles do not link Mr. Modi to criminal activity, and the words just appeared in close proximity to each other.

A screen grab of the Google image search results:

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.