Google offers apology for offensive image of Mrs. Obama

(WiredPRNews.com) – Google has offered an apology for a racially offensive image of First Lady Michelle Obama that appears in search results on the site when users query pictures of her. As reported by the Associated Press (AP), the company has posted a letter near the image that acknowledges the possible offensiveness of the content, which it states it does not endorse.

Google is quoted by the AP as writing in the letter, which users can access by clicking on a text ad called “Offensive Search Results,” its search results “can include disturbing content, even from innocuous queries… We apologize if you’ve had an upsetting experience using Google.”

The company further stated in regards to how search results are generated, “a site’s ranking in Google’s search results relies heavily on computer algorithms using thousands of factors to calculate a page’s relevance to a given query.”