Google sorry for suggesting using "fag" in place of "gay"

|

What's Up?

|

Web Directory

January 28, 2015 | Online

Google sorry for suggesting using "fag" in place of "gay"

Google has promised to overhaul its translation tool after receiving complaints it was suggesting offensive translations for the word "gay."

When the word "gay" is typed into the application Google Translate, the resulting suggestions included poof, queen, faggot and fag.

Similarly, the Russian word for gay, "гей," leads to suggestions like faggot, fag, fairy, queen, sodomite, pansy boy and homosexualist.

50,000 people signed a petition on AllOut demanding a change before Google would officially respond.

"As soon as we were informed that some of our translations for certain terms were serving inappropriate results, we immediately began working to fix the issue," said a spokesperson for the company. “We apologise for any offence this has caused people.

“Our systems produce translations automatically based on existing translations on the web, so we appreciate when users point out issues such as this.”

Of course, the tool is normally more accurate. For example, if you type in "Rush Limbaugh," it offers words like dick, blowhard, asshat and hypocrite.

January 28, 2015 | Online

Google sorry for suggesting using "fag" in place of "gay"

Site Reviews