They’ve even noticed the controversy in India. Until the other day if you typed the word
“Jew” into Google, the first search result turned out to be a link to an anti-Semitic Web site. A
group called removejewwatch wants the site removed from the
Google search engine and is asking at least 50,000 people to sign a petition demanding that.
Google has taken note as well. Now if you type in “Jew,” you get a Google explanation called
Offensive
Search Results. It says the Google Team is also “disturbed” by the
result, and it apologizes for “the upsetting nature of the experience you had” if you had done the
search.
But it also says the automated system for ranking sites, which determines the order of the
listings, is “completely objective.” Further, it points out, “the only sites we omit are those we are
legally compelled to remove or those maliciously attempting to manipulate our result.” And in any
case, it says, Google “cannot be influenced” by petitions. So the anti-Semitic Web
site remains a top search result.
If you type in “Christian” the top site you get is for the newspaper The Christian Science
Monitor, immediately followed by a pro-Christian Web
site. If you type in “Muslim” the top site listed is a pro-Muslim
site under construction that is partnered with a religious Muslim
educational site.
Question: Is the issue a matter of free speech vs. hate speech, as one petitioner says? Seems
to me Google has done the correct thing. If anyone can make the case in court to remove the
offensive anti-Semitic site from the search engine, that would be the way to go. Google already
says it’s willing to comply. Barring that, free speech should rule. What do you think?
