Google Instant's Allegedly 'Anti-Semitic' Results Lead To Lawsuit In France

A new lawsuit alleges that Google's search engine has an anti-Semitism problem.

French anti-discrimination organization SOS Racisme, in association with the Union of Jewish Students of France, the Movement Against Racism and for Friendship Among Peoples and other organizations, is suing Google because its autocomplete feature suggests the word "Jewish" in searches involving certain public figures, including News Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch and actor Jon Hamm, reports The Times of Israel.

Indeed, querying the search engine for "Jon Hamm," for example, yields "Jon Hamm Jewish" as one of the top results.

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According to Google's website, its algorithm for the Google Instant autocomplete feature "predicts and displays search queries based on other users' search activities and the contents of web pages indexed by Google." In addition, the search engine says it strives to "reflect the diversity of content on the web (some good, some objectionable)" and so has a narrow set of removal policies for pornography, violence, hate speech, etc. -- though not narrow enough for SOS Racisme, it seems.

A lawyer for SOS Racisme, Patrick Kulgman, told Agence France Presse (AFP) that Google's autocomplete algorithms have resulted in "the creation of what is probably the biggest Jewish file in history," according to The Times of Israel. As an "ethnic file," this compilation is outlawed in the country.

Local reports pointed out by The Hollywood Reporter explain that the plaintiffs contend users of Google in France and across the world are systematically confronted with the unsolicited association of the term "Jew" with prominent names in the world of politics, media, and business. A hearing for the lawsuit is scheduled for Wednesday.

The Hollywood Reporter also writes that the last lawsuit Google saw in France due to its autocomplete feature occurred in 2009, when two French companies sued the search engine because its autocomplete feature suggested the French word for "scam" in searches for said companies' names.

Just over a month ago, a man in Japan won an injunction against Google to have the autocomplete feature turned off when someone searched the man's name. Apparently, the search engine was connecting the man's name with crimes he had not committed and, according to Japan Times, "likely played a role in the sudden loss of his job several years ago and caused several companies to subsequently reject him when he applied for new jobs."

Related on HuffPost:

Not everything hidden within Google search is offensive or controversial. There are also some awesome easter eggs you can unlock if you know the right keywords to use. Here are our favorites:

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• Let It Snow

  When you type "let it snow" into the search bar, Google sends a shower of snowflakes down your screen. But watch out! It gets frosty fast. If that happens, just use your cursor like an ice scraper or click "defrost." It's a good way to prepare for those frosty mornings in the car.

• Do A Barrel Roll

  Wanna feel like you're flying a fighter jet while you look for things on the internet? Type <a href="https://www.google.com/webhp?hl=xx-piglatin#hl=xx-piglatin&source=hp&q=do+a+barrel+roll&btnG=Google+Earchsay&gbv=2&bav=cf.osb&fp=d9b1dc2a24b11a17&biw=1280&bih=615" target="_hplink">"do a barrel roll"</a> into the Google search bar and watch the whole page roll over.

• Zerg Rush

  If you query Google for "Zerg Rush," you'll unlock a playable "Starcraft" homage that unleashes dozens of letter Os on the page. You can earn some points by clicking on the letters and stopping them in their tracks, but eventually they'll overwhelm and devour your search results. You can't win no matter how speedy your point-and-click skills.

• What Is The Loneliest Number?

  You shouldn't be afraid to ask Google the hard questions. Query <a href="https://www.google.com/#pq=askew&hl=en&sugexp=kjrmc&cp=28&gs_id=42&xhr=t&q=what+is+the+loneliest+number&tok=D9RnikF6EoRNko2269EJ5Q&pf=p&sclient=psy-ab&source=hp&pbx=1&oq=what+is+the+loneliest+number&aq=0&aqi=g1&aql=f&gs_sm=&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=54eccb786198c044&biw=1280&bih=615" target="_hplink">"What is the loneliest number"</a> and Google's calculator will tell you that it is "1". The calculator returns the same answer when you query "the answer to life, the universe, and everything," as well as "the number of horns on a unicorn." Image via <a href="www.google.com" target="_hplink">Google</a>

• Askew

  Get Google a little tipsy when you search<a href="https://www.google.com/#sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&source=hp&q=askew&pbx=1&oq=askew&aq=f&aqi=g-z2g2&aql=1&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=15450l16004l1l16189l5l4l0l0l0l0l171l599l1.3l4l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=54eccb786198c044&biw=1280&bih=615" target="_hplink"> "askew".</a> Image via <a href="www.google.com" target="_hplink">Google</a>

• Google Gravity

  Tired of Google being so weightless all the time? Bring it down to Earth by entering "Google gravity" and clicking "I'm Feeling Lucky". Once the search bar, buttons and logo have collapsed into a heap at the bottom of the page, you can toss them around the page by clicking, dragging and releasing them.

• Recursion

  You know when you're in a bathroom with lots of mirrors and you look into one and see your reflection <a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3043/2683236467_d9bce06ae5.jpg" target="_hplink">repeated into infinity?</a> That's called recursion. <a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/recursive" target="_hplink">According to Merriam-Webster,</a> the word means "a procedure that can repeat itself indefinitely." If you <a href="http://www.nochucknorris.com/" target="_hplink">Google with the word "recursion,"</a> Google will suggest the following at the top of its list of search results: "Did you mean: recursion." If you click Google's suggestion, a new page will load, but "Did you mean: recursion" will remain at the at the top of the results list. (With the time and inclination, you could go on and on like this forever.)

• Where Is Chuck Norris?

  Google saves you from a roundhouse kick to the face by coming up empty when you attempt an "I'm Feeling Lucky" search for <a href="http://www.nochucknorris.com/" target="_hplink">"Where is Chuck Norris?"</a> Instead users are <a href="http://www.nochucknorris.com/" target="_hplink">taken to www.NoChuckNorris.com</a>, which displays text that reads, "Google won't search for Chuck Norris because it knows you don't find Chuck Norris, he finds you." The page also gives users an option to search "pages from Chuck's Beard."

• Once In A Blue Moon

  The Google Calculator also returns more complicated answers. Query "baker's dozen" and the calculator returns "13." Searching "once in a blue moon" yields a comically small number (seen above).

• Google Pig Latin

  Otay eesay Oogle'sgay omepagehay anslatedtray intoway Igpay Atinlay, ypetay <a href="https://www.google.com/webhp?hl=xx-piglatin" target="_hplink">"ooglegay igpay atinlay"</a> intoway Ooglegay andway ithay "I'mway Eelingfay Uckylay". You can also customize your Google search to <a href="http://www.google.com/language_tools?hl=en" target="_hplink">display text in a number of languages</a>, such French, German and Japanese, as well as Latin, Pirate and Klingon.

• BONUS: Play 'Snake' In YouTube Videos

  If you're watching a dull video on YouTube.com, you can press the Up+Left arrows simultaneously to enjoys a game of "Snake" over the video. <a href="http://thenextweb.com/apps/2010/07/24/did-you-know-you-can-play-snake-on-youtube-while-watching-videos-hold-left/" target="_hplink">According to The Next Web</a>, this trick doesn't work for videos with "annotations or ads. It's limited to the videos played on YouTube's site and it doesn't work for embedded videos." Check out the video (above) to see how it's done.

• RELATED VIDEO

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Comments

[ProgressivesLoveAmerica]

04:14 PM on 07/27/2012

I've noticed similar trends when I use the search engine. I never once assumed that the actual Google corporation had any bias whatsoever. I simply assumed that those terms are what a lot of conspiracy theorists search for. There's a difference between when a search engine is trying to cater to their user's interests and overt outright bigotry.

[Kyle Noe]

09:13 PM on 05/02/2012

Santorum has a google problem as well. Oh well - Google is just reporting to you what it learns on the vast open web. Get mad at the websites, not Google.

[Israel4Ever]

10:45 AM on 05/02/2012

As usual on HP, you can say anything you want against Jews and Israel and get right through but if you try to defend them or respond to the attackers you are censored.

We get it...the left is anti-Semitic and HP is a prime carrier of its doggerel.

[Anybodyseenthepopos]

10:43 AM on 05/02/2012

This is just the tip of the iceberg. If you search for many things that have ZERO to do with the Pal vs. Israel conflict, you get reams of propaganda sites. Page after page after page...

And that includes searches with quotes.

[qcp]

09:18 AM on 05/02/2012

Haven't these guys heard of Jewgle? The results there are all 100% kosher.

[Israel4Ever]

10:36 AM on 05/02/2012

What you mean is you can see why you are anti-semitic...bad parenting, a limited world view, jealousy of the successful, and inability to take responsibility for yourself.

[vyskol]

01:08 PM on 05/02/2012

Personally, I blame Israeli foreign and domestic policy.

[Anybodyseenthepopos]

01:37 PM on 05/02/2012

In some cases "it takes one to know one". I suspect your case applies.

[cyanmanta]

03:46 AM on 05/02/2012

Well, I checked, and I do see that Google has stopped censoring search results pertaining to islam, so thumbs up to them for that. When that happened, I was incredibly disappointed in them; I felt like they were actively placating terrorists and fanatics by trying to hide the fact that people thought negatively of islam. That's not the way a free marketplace of ideas works, and censorship for the sake of shallow public order is not how America works, either.

[barbra1971]

11:01 PM on 05/01/2012

I don't understand, are they offended by it?
I would be proud, it is proof that they are everywhere and they are successful.

Maybe we should ban all religious affiliations with person's name altogether. Would that make them happy?

[Sanders McGrillin]

06:44 PM on 05/01/2012

It doesn't help when your trying to get away from stereotypes, to sue a big company for lots of money over the use of the word "jewish" in the suggested search.....
to me, if anything, that really just totally reinforces the whole "jews are greedy money hoarders" thing.....
way to go Frenchies, way to bring that stereotype back into fact! Woo!

[Brett Tonaille]

10:08 PM on 05/01/2012

Ow.
I think the issue is silly, yes, or even dishonest, since these auto-completes seem to result from what users are looking for (something Google can't control). But SOS-Racisme, as it happens, isn't a Jewish organization; in fact, as I recall they were created above all to fight racism against Arabs and Africans. Nor does the main purpose of the suit seem to be the money; it is clearly to address the issue (however wrongly to my mind).
So, no, I don't think most people will get "greedy money hoarders" out of this. Unless of course that phrase happens to be hanging around in their head already.

[Israel4Ever]

10:41 AM on 05/02/2012

Wow. What this really shows is your hair trigger anti-semitism, your disturbing pigeonholing, and a rank inability to comprehend news you are reading.

"lots of money", "greedy money-hoarders", "Frenchies"...is there a group in this article you don't have a prejudice against?

1. Where does it even mention money in the article. For all you know, and most likely, they are suing to get the policy/filter changed.

2. Money hoarders...why I haven't heard that term in years. You might have been carrying it around with you like so much bad parenting baggage, but the rest of the world has moved on to a much more inimical anti-Semitism having to do with world domination and such.

3. Frenchies...what are you, 12?

[Sanders McGrillin]

02:55 PM on 05/02/2012

Sorry, I don't believe the illegal state of Israel should exist & have made it my life goal to bad talk that entire country & religion until god strikes me down...... which will never happen since god is a figment of the human imagination.
Radical religions have no place in the world. including the jewish religion. Thats my personal opinion & it will not change. I'm a lso a fan of cutting all US AID to Israel since they are an illegal country.

[Italia58]

06:31 PM on 05/01/2012

Ok. The last part of this article about the man who lost jobs because his name was associated with various crimes he didn't complete made sense to me. But the antisemtic claims. Not so much. Why would it be a problem if these persons who are "very prominent people" are Jewish? Why is that an issue. I am black. If someone were to google my name and black came up behind it, why would I worry, I am black. I am African-American. Why are Jews afraid to be Jews in the world of today? Why are they hiding. The way this article is written it suggest to me that Jews or Jewish people who are well knnown and are successful in their fields of expertise do not want anyone to know they are Jewish. Why is that? Help me with that as I do not understand that.

[deluxebrand]

06:30 PM on 05/01/2012

re-friggin-tarded

[Lonnie DeVorak]

09:36 PM on 05/01/2012

agreed!

[Tmboy]

05:19 PM on 05/01/2012

The search saying "jewish" after it does not mean that they guy is actually jewish but that apparently a lot of people have searched that phrase.

[psychmaj323]

05:05 PM on 05/01/2012

this is stupid. The autocomplete feature is based upon popular entires anyway, so a lot of people must have been searching for the exact very thing.

[JosephTX]

04:23 PM on 05/01/2012

Okay I understand being insulted by the Rupert Murdoch part.. but who gets insulted by being compared to Jon Hamm?

[Mitchman57]

04:03 PM on 05/01/2012

So.... if the word 'christianish' popped up next to his name instead, that would be better?

[Jesse Feller]

05:12 PM on 05/01/2012

It would be "Christian" dude, are you for real?

[Italia58]

06:35 PM on 05/01/2012

And your point is? Why is that a problem. It sounds as if Jews or Jewish people do not want the world to know they are Jews or Jewish. It gets confusing why they do not want to be recognized by their ethnicticity. I thought that was from days gone by. Are you telling me that Jews still feel the need to hide who they are? Why is it a problem? I don't think a person would have any issues being known as "Christianish" if they are. Only if they are not.

[Israel4Ever]

02:36 PM on 05/02/2012

Do you have any historical idea of the long term impact of people keeping lists of who is Jewish and who is not? That is the first answer.

I think the answer is, as a Jew, it is better to be self-revealing. To control who does and does not know your religion, where you live, and your friends and relatives.

Ask yourself why the world is so curious about who is and is not a Jew that it actually punches through Google's search criteria algorithms. Then perhaps you can begin to understand the concern Jews have about such matters.