Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Jewish Business News

Business

Google: “Sorry for Maps search mess up”

Someone on Google Maps just labeled President Obama a very bad N-word.

Images: Washington Post
Two days ago, Google Maps users made a very disturbing discovery. Searching the racial slur “n—- king” directed them to the White House. The same results were achieved with a search for “n—- house.” If anyone needed proof of the ongoing existence of racism in the United States, there are now literally directions for it.

Yesterday, Google issued a contrite statement saying it was fixing the issue, but it persisted. Google then released a lengthier apology: “Certain offensive search terms were triggering unexpected maps results, typically because people had used the offensive term in online discussions of the place. This surfaced inappropriate results that users likely weren’t looking for.” The issue appears to be resolved now.

Google has suspended users’ ability to submit edits to Google Maps for the time being.

Please help us out :
Will you offer us a hand? Every gift, regardless of size, fuels our future.
Your critical contribution enables us to maintain our independence from shareholders or wealthy owners, allowing us to keep up reporting without bias. It means we can continue to make Jewish Business News available to everyone.
You can support us for as little as $1 via PayPal at office@jewishbusinessnews.com.
Thank you.

Product manager Pavithra Kanakarajan said in a message to users, “We are temporarily disabling editing on Map Maker starting today, while we continue to work towards making the moderation system more robust.”

Google has pledged to give an update by May 27. Until then, Google Maps users can still report mistakes and inappropriate material from the app.

Newsletter



Advertisement

You May Also Like

World News

In the 15th Nov 2015 edition of Israel’s good news, the highlights include:   ·         A new Israeli treatment brings hope to relapsed leukemia...

Entertainment

The Movie The Professional is what made Natalie Portman a Lolita.

Travel

After two decades without a rating system in Israel, at the end of 2012 an international tender for hotel rating was published.  Invited to place bids...

VC, Investments

You may not become a millionaire, but there is a lot to learn from George Soros.