Hours after many Kannadigas voiced their displeasure with Google for showing Kannada as the result for the search phrase “ugliest language in India”, Google India has issued an apology for “the misunderstanding and hurting any sentiments.” Noting that the company is continually working to improve its algorithms, Google India said that the search engine’s results to queries are not reflective of the opinions of the technology giant.
The apology read, "Search isn't always perfect. Sometimes, the way content is described on the Internet can yield surprising results to specific queries. We know this is not ideal, but we take swift corrective action when we are made aware of an issue and are continually working to improve our algorithms. Naturally, these are not reflective of the opinions of Google, and we apologize for the misunderstanding and hurting any sentiments." Google India also put out the same statement in Kannada.
Earlier on June 3, several Kannadigas, including political representatives and activists expressed displeasure at the results of a search for “ugliest language in India”. To this, the response that showed up was, “What is the ugliest language in India? The answer is Kannada, a language spoken by around 40 million people in south India.” The answer seemed to have been picked up from a page on a website named debtconsolidationsquad.com, which featured this answer amidst a series of questions and answers on languages across the world, including questions on “easiest language in India '' and “most beautiful language in India.”
After this came to light on social media, Bengaluru Central Member of Parliament from BJP, PC Mohan, had demanded an apology from Google India. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Mukund Gowda had also written to Google India, asking for the search result to be taken down and for action to be taken against those responsible for the result.
We apologize for the misunderstanding and hurting any sentiments. pic.twitter.com/nltsVezdLQ
— Google India (@GoogleIndia) June 3, 2021