A video clip claiming that Google was showing “Kannada” as the reply to a question, ‘Which is the ugliest language of India?’, went viral on Thursday. The producers of the clip asked Kannidigas to report to the webpage, debtconsolidationsquad.com, which had shared this information in a post.
However, many took objection to Google itself, alleging that the search engine had called “Kannada” the “ugliest language” and reported the web page en masse. Even the State government has decided to take legal action against Google.
Kannada and Culture Minister Arvind Limbavali said the State government will take legal action. “If Kannada is now called the ugliest language in India, it is merely an attempt by Google to insult this pride of Kannadigas. Demand apology from Google to Kannada, Kannadigas. Legal action will be taken against Google for maligning the image of our beautiful language!” he tweeted.
The Kannada Sahitya Parishat even mailed a complaint to Google CEO Sundar Pichai. The web page was later removed by Google from its search results.
Former Chief Minister H. D. Kumaraswamy in a series of tweets took objection to “lack of sensitivity by Google” and asked why the web page was removed only after Kannadigas took objection to it.
Arun Javagal, a Karnataka Rakshana Vedike activist and a software engineer, said the post on the webpage may have been a deliberate attempt to stir up trouble and that the right way to deal with it was to report the page to Google, which was done. “Google is a search engine which has picked up the specific page because of the keywords used. The process is automated,” he explained.
He added that the “self-respect and pride” which has spurred Kannadigas into action over the clip would be put to better use if it is channelised into more structural issues like seeking all services in Kannada and seeking a more federal governance system in the country.
Google India issued an apology later in the day “Search isn’t always perfect. Sometimes, the way consent is described on the internet can yield surprising results to specific queries. We know this is not ideal, but we take swift corrective action when we are made aware of an issue and are continually working to improve our algorithms. Naturally, these are not reflective of the opinions of Google, and we apologise for the misunderstanding and hurting any sentiments,” Google India said in a statement on Twitter.
