Infinite Path

Google have been embroiled in yet another controversial episode, this time revolving around an offensive image of Michelle Obama appearing at the top of the search results for “Michelle Obama” in Google Images. The search engine refused to remove the image from its search results and instead chose to run an ad next to the picture explaining its stance.

This advertisement explained to users that the results in the search engine “can include disturbing content, even from innocuous queries” and appears to put an ultimate focus upon freedom of access to content across the internet.

The blog that published the offensive image has since removed it and has also issued an apology. However, questions remain as to who should have taken responsibility for taking down the image. Should Google have deleted the image from their search results, or should the sole responsibility fall on the shoulders of the individuals who initially posted it on the website?

An additional layer of controversy was unveiled when it emerged that the controversial blog in question was hosted by Blogger, a blog service owned by Google. Does this make Google more or less accountable for the content published on the site?

Google are technically only obliged to remove images if they are made to do so by the law and many believe that it is not their place to make judgement calls about the content published on the web. After all, with issues such as this, knowing where to draw the line can be extremely difficult and the process could become a labyrinth of over-hyped and excessive political correctness.

A large number of popular websites with consistently high traffic have built their reputations on the ability to produce what might be deemed as offensive content which provides amusement for some users. Providing a search company with the ability to police the content of the internet and moderate it as it sees fit could alter the very nature of the web that we know and, on the most part, love.