Google is using a house ad to explain why an offensive image of First Lady Michelle Obama is the first result in an image search.
Search Engine Land reports that complaints about the image appeared in a Google help forum last week. A Google employee responded to the complaints on Wednesday, explaining that Google does not remove results “simply because the content is in very poor taste or because we receive complaints concerning it.”
But the image disappeared, apparently later that day. Google cited the host site’s potential to spread viruses as the reason. But the web site, a Blogspot site called “Hot Girls,” was still listed in Google web results, without a warning.
Now, the image is back, with a house ad from Google which reads, “Sometimes our search results can be offensive. We agree. Read more,” and links to an explanation of Google’s policy.
It’s not the first time Google has used an ad to explain offensive results. As Search Engine Roundtable points out, a web search for the term “Jew” brings up an ad that reads, “We’re disturbed about these results as well.”
And in 2006, when the term “miserable failure” brought up WhiteHouse.gov, Google also used an ad to explain why. Eventually Google used an algorithmic function to change those results.
Google did not immediately return a request for comment.
Late update: A spokesman for Google tells TPM that, although the company has altered algorithms in the past in order to “improve search results for users,” Google has “nothing to announce” regarding plans to do the same with the Michelle Obama results.
The spokesman, Scott Rubin, also said the image was returned to the search results because it appeared on another site that does not violate Google’s policies against viruses and other malicious code.
