Google on Tuesday said that it has found no evidence that its Search algorithms were showing the Pakistani flag when looked for the “best toilet paper in the world”, the “best China-made toilet paper” or just “toilet paper”.
Google however, has clarified on the news stories published by several media outlets that the Google Images has been hijacked linking Pakistan flag to toilet paper.
“Google searches for ‘best toilet paper in the world’ appear to have been manipulated to return images of the Pakistan national flag,” BBC News reported.
In a statement to media channels, the Google spokesperson said: “While we continue to investigate the matter, we have not found any evidence that Google Images was ranking the Pakistani flag in response to this particular search.”
Screenshots of the search results went viral as memes, posts and status updates on several social media platforms, including Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. “Since these news stories published, images from those articles are now ranking for this query, as the pages contain words relevant to the search,” said the Google spokesperson.
“Many news outlets wrote about an old screenshot from a meme website that is inconsistent with our UI and dates back to 2017, and we have not seen any independent verification that these results ever appeared as depicted,” he added.
#besttoiletpaperintheworld #on #google #PulwamaTerrorAttack #weallarereadytoattack #IndiaUnited #BLACK DAY FOR INDIA
#phulwamaattack #PulwamaRevenge #India #RIPBraveRealHero #WantRevengeOnBloodyPakistan pic.twitter.com/vYIY08wBCg
— kundan singh rajput (@IamkundanRajput) February 16, 2019
Just search on google
As best toilet paper in the world#besttoiletpaperintheworld@RadioPakistan pic.twitter.com/bLjtSWW3rn— Bajrang dal Hazaribagh (@BHazaribagh) February 16, 2019
जो आप और हम कर रहे हैं वह भी कम नही है
बस How's The क्रोध को High ही रखना है pic.twitter.com/TO0HiiaWtX— Pramod Singh(सनकी) How's The Josh (@PramodS29541525) February 16, 2019
“Since these news stories published, images from those articles are now ranking for this query, as the pages contain words relevant to the search.”
However, it has also been clarified that the images showing the Pakistani flag are appearing because of the many articles that mentioned similar words. The news stories headlining the meme have the terms relevant to what people are now searching on Google, instantly returning the images with the Pakistani flag. “We have not seen any independent verification that these results ever appeared as depicted,” the spokesperson added.
The BBC report added that the flag-toilet paper connection emerged soon after the 14 February attack in a few blogs commenting on the Pulwama attack and became a trending topic on social media over the weekend.
Google algorithms have also displayed inappropriate search results on certain topics in the past. Earlier, searching words like “Feku”, “Pappu” and “Idiot” led users to the images of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress President Rahul Gandhi and US President Donald Trump, respectively.
The post Flag-toilet paper controversy: Google search hacked, ‘best toilet paper’ results show Pakistan’s national flag in response to Pulwama attack appeared first on Rava.
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