Google vows fix for ‘inappropriate’ search results

The social platforms bubbled up on Sunday after finding fake news were being shown in the search function called “Featured Snippets”.

Similarly, he cited an example in which Google’s search engine listed four former USA presidents as “active and known” KKK members, even though there has been no conclusive historical evidence supporting that.

However, when asked more complex political questions, the device will often read information that is false without providing any further context. However, some satirical or comedic websites use very legitimate sounding names, such as The Seattle Tribune which publishes entirely fabricated articles.

That answer, along with a few other odd ones, was discovered last weekend when BBC reporter Rory Cellan-Jones and others asked the Google device some questions about Obama, American presidents and Republicans in Washington.

It also featured a search for “Proposition 63”, a gun control measure, that had produced a Snippet describing it as “a deceptive ballot initiative that will criminalise millions of law abiding Californians”.

Google has been accused of spreading fake news after the site shared reports claiming that President Obama had been planning a coup and Theresa May was a lizard in disguise as though they were fact. While Google continues to tinker with its Featured Snippet aspect, perhaps. What should be even more alarming is the fact that the issue is back in the news in spite of what Google claimed as concerted efforts on their part to achieve just the opposite, that of stamping out fake news. I will, however, be trying this out on my Google Home when I get to the house tonight.

Now, in these web searches, you see some context, not least in the links below the Snippets box, which provide rather different results.

Recode added that fellow smart speaker, Amazon’s Alexa, remained neutral when asked about Obama’s alleged coup, replying, “Hmm I can’t find the answer to the question I heard”, according to Recode.

But in the meantime it looks like on some occasions you should take that top Google answer with a pinch of salt. “We apologise for any offense this may have caused”. Unfortunately, sometimes those answers come from such unverified sources. And this increases the likelihood that Google will offer an unverified or completely made-up answer to your question – such as the “fact” that five former US Presidents were supposedly members of the KKK.

The Google spokeswoman said the company removed the “featured snippet” that Google Home recited after it was alerted about it.