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Google Is Very Sorry for Its Very Racist Maps Bug

by Mark Bergen

Two days ago, keen eyes on the Internet spotted a severely offensive flaw in Google Maps: If searchers typed a racist term, specifically “n***** king” and variants thereof, they were directed to the White House. Yesterday, Google issued a contrite statement saying it was fixing the issue, but it persisted. This afternoon, Google released a lengthier apology: “Certain offensive search terms were triggering unexpected maps results, typically because people had used the offensive term in online discussions of the place. This surfaced inappropriate results that users likely weren’t looking for.” The issue appears to be resolved now. Earlier this month, Google shut down its maps editor after a user managed to insert an Android logo urinating on an Apple logo.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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