India
'Mitron, who was India's first PM': Google gaffe over Jawahar Lal Nehru pic leaves Twitter befuddled
Updated : Apr 26, 2018, 10:52 AM IST
Is it faux pas in Google algorithm or a technical quirk? While expert opinion is yet to come, Twitter is befuddled over the mix-up of photos in the ‘India first PM’ query.
Still don’t get it? Google ‘India first PM’ and you will get Jawaharlal Nehru’s name appearing on the Wikipedia link. The only problem with this is the photo — it is of current Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Yes, Prime Minister Modi’s picture is somehow appearing alongside Nehru’s name on the Wikipedia link ‘List of Prime Ministers of India’.
Going by the tweets, it seems that this anomaly was first noticed on Wednesday.
When it got highlighted, many Twitter users started posting their reactions along with the screenshots.
Some of them were quick to blame Google for the ‘error’.
But, we will leave it to the experts to say whether it was Google’s or Wikipedia’s error, if it all it was there any.
Congress leader and social media in-charge Divya Spandana blamed Google over the issue.
.@Google @GoogleIndia what algorithm of yours allows this?! You’re so full of junk- pic.twitter.com/GHyxh3fEWm
— Divya Spandana/Ramya (@divyaspandana) April 25, 2018
And then, someone questioned Twitter
Mitron, who was India's first PM? pic.twitter.com/K8IQXgusx3
— Salil Tripathi (@saliltripathi) April 25, 2018
Very strange type in google search "india first pm" the result will be this . Google showing pic of Narendra modi instead of Jawahar lal Nehru @GoogleIndia very unfortunate that such blunder is done by google pic.twitter.com/grrKhe0UKU
— #SK (@kauserseema) April 25, 2018
However, somebody did try to explain the cause of the error
Sigh..
— Abhinav Agarwal (@AbhinavAgarwal) April 25, 2018
1. Google is serving up a Wikipedia page on the topic, "List of Prime Ministers of India - Wikipedia"
2. The first image on the Wikipedia page is of Narendra Modi, PM.
3. When displayed on a narrow screen, the image comes up first.
Can the lady NOT understand this? https://t.co/wuQqMCbWx4
This is not the first time Google has ‘erred’ in such a way.
Earlier in June, 2015, the internet was on fire when a search for 'Top 10 criminals in the world' showed pictures of Narendra Modi along with criminals like Dawood Ibrahim and Al Capone. At that time, things got out of hand and Google ended up apologising to the Prime Minister.
Something similar happened a month later in July, 2015, when a search for “World's Most Stupid Prime Ministers” showed Narendra Modi along with other leaders like David Cameron, Tony Abbot and even former leaders like Lee Kuan Yew.
Learning a lesson, Google in a reply over the query “top 10 criminals in India” said that it was due to a British daily which had an image of PM Modi and erroneous metadata. According to Google, the image search results were drawn from multiple news articles with images of PM Modi and his statements with regard to politicians with a criminal background.