Her husband may be the most powerful man on the planet, but Google Inc. seemingly prefers to stand behind free speech with regard to potentially upsetting America's glamourous first lady. Moreover, the online search titan has said it is not prepared to remove a crudely distorted image of Michelle Obama that's causing something of a stir online and has even been branded as racist.
Complaints not enough, according to Google. Image: Mike Baird/Flickr.
The photo in question, which appeared through the 'Hot Girls' blog, has been doctored to give the President's wife the features of a monkey. However, while the picture has prompted a wave of criticism, California-based Google has indicated that its commitment to free speech means complaints alone are not enough to justify removing the picture from circulation.
“It's offensive to many people, but that alone is not a reason to remove it from our search index,” commented Google spokesperson Scott Rubin on Tuesday. “We have, in general, a bias toward free speech.”
While Google has indicated a blog or site needs to be guilty of pedaling hate or hosting illegal content before it takes action, the Internet heavyweight has slapped the altered image with a cautionary statement that appears whenever it's clicked by a user.
“Sometimes Google search results from the Internet can include disturbing content, even from innocuous queries. We assure you that the views expressed by such sites are not in any way endorsed by Google,” the message reads.
“Search engines are a reflection of the content and information that is available on the Internet. A site's ranking in Google 's search results relies heavily on computer algorithms using thousands of factors to calculate a page's relevance to a given query,” it added. “The beliefs and preferences of those who work at Google, as well as the opinions of the general public, do not determine or impact our search results.”
It's worth noting the image's return as a lead page result is actually more likely for those those Google users who've selected 'SafeSearch'. Ironically, those preferring to turn the safeguard filter off, which can generally throw up related results including nudity, probably won't find the image of Michelle Obama without looking for it specifically because it'll be pushed further down the rankings.
Update: Hot Girls has since removed the photo of Michelle Obama, explaining that it was displayed accidently due to an automatic image collection tool.
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