Google apologizes for showing Kannada as 'World's Ugliest Language'; state warns action

As Google courted controversy on Thursday morning with angry netizens aiming sharp criticism at the search engine giant for showing Kannada as the 'world's ugliest language,' the California-based tech company has issued an apology for hurting the sentiments of Indian people. Reasoning that the search results are not always perfect, a Google spokesperson on Thursday admitted that the search result was not ideal and that it does not 'reflect the opinions' of Google. 

In a statement to news agency PTI, Google said, "Search isn't always perfect. Sometimes, the way content is described on the internet can yield surprising results to specific queries." 

"We know this is not ideal, but we take swift corrective action when we are made aware of an issue and are continually working to improve our algorithms. Naturally, these are not reflective of the opinions of Google, and we apologise for the misunderstanding and hurting any sentiments," the spokesperson added. 

Karnataka to take legal actions against Google?

Meanwhile, amid the outrage, Karnataka Minister for Kannada, Culture and Forest, Aravind Limbavali has threatened to take legal action against Google for allegedly 'insulting' the pride of Kannadigas. Demanding a public apology from Google, the Karnataka Minister has said that legal action will be taken against the multinational company for 'maligning the image' of Kannada. 

Former Chief Minister of Karnataka HD Kumaraswamy also took umbrage at the search result that is deemed to be offensive to Kannadigas. Denouncing Google in a series of tweets, Kumaraswamy sought to know why Google "behaves in an irresponsible manner" in terms of language. 

"Not just Kannada, no language is bad, bad. All languages are beautiful. Language is a matter of emotions. Abuse against language is very painful. Thus in this case @Google needs to be sensitive. The web page that mocked Kannada may be deleted. But, what is the solution to the pain caused by mirror?" Kumaraswamy said in a tweet. 

Google came under the fire of the people of Karnataka after it stirred controversy for showing Kannada as the 'world's ugliest language' as a snippet response to the bizarre query. The matter came to the fore after netizens shared screenshots of Google's response to a query on which was the world's ugliest language as Kannada, inviting sharp criticism from Karnataka politicians and citizens. The content of the response shown on the Google search belonged to a certain blog which was taken down after it was reported by multiple users who also sought Google's apology.