Offensive image of Michelle Obama is back
December 10, 2009 No Comments
(update: Google has removed the image again, hopefully, at last.)
An offensive image of First Lady Michelle Obama is back atop Google images as Dec 10. The image, which morphs Mrs. Obama’s picture with that of a monkey, was removed by Google on Nov. 23 after criticism reached the company’s Mountain View, Calif., headquarters.
Google issued an apology for the incident, saying, “We apologize if you’ve had an upsetting experience using Google.” The company then went on to say that it would not only take down the image but ban the web site that posted it. “Sometimes our search results can be offensive. We agree.”
But is Google over its head this time? Google surely can’t keep up with its image inventory, based on the sheer size of the Web’s operation. Billions of users can post billions of pictures. If a group of people with an ulterior motive–which is clearly the case here–wants to post insulting pics, Google will not be able to stop them all, and certainly not in a timely fashion.
As for the wife of the leader of the free world, they may have bigger issues.
