Google fixes leading definition of "Jew" after search engine results showed offensive slur

[Behind the Aegis]

Search engine giant Google said it has fixed the search results for the word "Jew" after an offensive definition of the word was appearing as the top result. For at least several hours on Tuesday morning and into the early afternoon, internet users who typed the word "Jew" into a Google search bar encountered a series of pejorative phrases as the engine's leading result, which appeared above the dictionary definition describing a person affiliated with cultural and religious Judaism.

Prior to the fix, the leading result for the word "Jew" read: "Bargain with someone in a miserly or petty way." The definition, which cited Oxford Languages as a source and characterized the term as a verb, included a small bolded banner marked "offensive" in capital letters. The search engine also presented the word in various "tenses," including "jewed" and "jewing."

Google updated the result after 1 p.m. ET, after many online pointed out the offensive error.

The offensive definition's origin was listed as having been rooted in a 19th-century slur and "in reference to old stereotypes associating Jewish people with trading and moneylending."

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[lapfog_1]

1. unbelievable

In 1985 I had a boss at a high tech company who used this term in a meeting with some executives... he had to apologize to the entire company to keep his job.

almost 40 years later and google links to this?

[Bernardo de La Paz]

4. Undoubtedly raised by automatic by malicious bad actors & bots clicking that particular result

Same problem Twitter faces, only the mollusk does not care.

[hlthe2b]

5. As a child I always heard the word "gypped" used in those contexts...

But, as I became older and a bit more aware, I wondered if that was not a derogatory reference to "gypsies" (Roma). Apparently, it always was/and is.

Those words you hear that refer to a group of people and are used to hurt/stereotype/offend and as a defense for abject bigotry have got to GO. People that unintentionally slip up need a very direct correction and companies (as apparently Google) that are slow to act need to face some consequences.

[LeftInTX]

7. I remember "gyp" frequently used

Barely remember "Jew" though.
Didn't make the connection because I was like 15 and just assumed it was a word that sounded like another. Was used in same context as gypped. However, it was so long ago, I can't remember the exact usage etc.

[Hekate]

2. So -- were the slurs maliciously inserted & then Google fixed them? Sounds like that's what happened.

This country’s going retrograde in a hurry

[Bernardo de La Paz]

3. I expect there might have been a malicious campaign to click on results, because that raises them

If a dozen people, maybe with bots, relentlessly click on a particular lower-ranked result, the algorithms raise it in prominence.

[Hekate]

6. That's what I remembered as an actual strategy, so thanks. Antisemites are such scum.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

8. I was full-grown before I realized the term was a slur associated with the people.

It was commonly used in the area where I grew up and I just failed to connect the dots.

[greyl]

9. Many Catholics "learn" that early. nt