Google allows Holocaust denial results to remain at top of search query

14 Dec, 2016 00:14

If any internet user attempts to Google “did the Holocaust happen,” they will be shocked to find the top result is from a neo-Nazi and white supremacist forum, which refers to the massacre of over 6 million people as a “lie.”

Google, however, refuses to blacklist the content in its search engine, with the company explaining to Fortune that it is “saddened to see that hate organizations still exist,” but still, it won’t “remove content from its search results, except in very limited cases such as illegal content, malware and violations of our webmaster guidelines.”

“The fact that hate sites appear in search results does not mean that Google endorses these views,” the spokesperson added in a statement.

The “Stormfront” website, which has been classed as a major hate site, posted content titled, “Top 10 reasons why the holocaust didn’t happen,” with a member asking other supporters of the site to help justify his view of denying that the Holocaust happened.

While debates continue over “fake news,” many people are in disbelief that the content remains accessible through the search engine.

Google maintains that the ranking of content appearing in search results is categorized by the algorithms of a computer that are decided using factors to determine a page’s relevance to the stated query. 

The latest incident comes a week after Google was forced to alter the site’s autocomplete function following suggestions of anti-Semitic, sexist and racist natures.

READ MORE: Fake news? Nobody does it better than the West

When users typed in the phrase “are Jews,” Google’s autosuggestions came up with “evil” and for “are Muslims,” the word “bad” was suggested.