Friday, 22 May 2015

Google Says It 'Messed Up' Over Race Slur

Google has suspended its Map Maker tool indefinitely after users typing a racist slur were shown the White House.

A screengrab of Google Maps showing a search using a racial slur which gives the white house as a result

Google has apologised saying it "messed up" after a search for a racial slur on its maps service pointed users to the White House.

People searching for "n**** house" were shown the residence of Barack Obama, the first black President of the US.

It was flagged up on Wednesday and Google fixed the issue within hours.

But users have pointed out that hundreds of other derogatory terms entered into the search bar can see users directed to specific points on the map.

In a new blog post, the search company said it was "deeply upset" by the problem and was working to overhaul how some of its search algorithms work.

It said: "This week, we heard about a failure in our system - loud and clear.

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