Google has apologised after a racially offensive image of US First Lady Michelle Obama became the top image in a search on her name. But how do such images get so high on the list?
The complaint re Michelle Obama's pic was that it came up first (see above quote). The racists who posted it knew how to use Google to get a prominent place, without Google paying much attention to how its system may be gamed. Which is why Google probably did have an apology to offer.
(The same would apply to the SEO goons who invade good sites like ET, because Google runs a system that can be gamed by them (or Google doesn't make the effort to show them it can't, which produces the same result as far as we're concerned -- still vetting all new accounts here, and disabling between five and ten spammers a day).)
It would seem fair to point out also that chimp features on a black person don't play the same communicational role as on a white -- does that need explaining?
