Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Google apologises to Indian PM Narendra Modi after he appears in list of top 10 criminals

The internet giant reportedly put the mistake down to a British daily which published an image with 'erroneous metadata'

Alexander Ward
Thursday 04 June 2015 16:16 BST
Comments
Google apologised for Narendra Modi's appearance in the list of criminals
Google apologised for Narendra Modi's appearance in the list of criminals (Alex Wong/ Getty)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Google has apologised to India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, after his image appeared in search results for the “top 10 criminals”.

When image search is used, Mr Modi features heavily in Google’s results, which prominently features images of terrorists, murderers and dictators.

While Mr Modi is frequently shown on in search results, George W. Bush also makes an appearance in the list.

Many images show the likes of Osama bin Laden, the founder of al-Qaeda, who was killed in a United States raid in 2011.

Time magazine reported that Google explained that the results were due to “a British daily publishing an image of Modi with erroneous metadata”.

The search pictures the Indian PM and George W Bush, amongst others
The search pictures the Indian PM and George W Bush, amongst others (Google)

Dawood Ibrahim was also found when “top 10 criminals” was searched for. Mr Ibrahim is the leader of an Indian organised crime syndicate called D-Company, based in Mumbai.

A spokesperson for Google said in a statement: "These results trouble us and are not reflective of the opinions of Google.

"Sometimes, the way images are described on the internet can yield surprising results to specific queries.

"We're continually working to improve our algorithms to prevent unexpected results like this.

"We apologise for any confusion or misunderstanding this has caused."

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in