Karnataka HC quashes PIL against Google India for showing Kannada as 'ugliest language'

On Wednesday, the Karnataka High Court quashed a PIL seeking penal action against Google India for showing a web result answering Kannada as the ‘ugliest language in India’. The court’s directive came after Google India issued an apology for the same after facing major backlash on the issue. 

The matter was heard by a Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Sachin Shankar Magadum. The court dismissed the case against the search engine and said that

“The petition has been filed against Google India Private Limited as well as other respondents, stating that on Google some derogatory remark has been made in respect of Kannada language. The petitioner himself has filed a copy of the newspaper clipping," as per a report by Bar and Bench.

The PIL was filed by the Anti Corruption Council of India Trust, who later decided to withdraw the petition as the tech-giant tendered an apology.  

The court said, “The contention of the petitioner is that later on, Google India has tendered an apology in the matter in terms of the content displayed on the website, assuring that such incidents will not take place in future."

What was the controversy showing derogatory search results on Kannada?

The controversy broke out in June this year, after a result on Google showed Kannada as the ugliest language in India. Google India had to face severe backlash and criticism in the matter, online as well as offline. The matter was picked up by several politicians as well, who had demanded strict action against the tech company for not regulating such derogatory comments on the platform. 

Google India’s Apology 

However, within hours of the controversy, Google India had apologised for the same and had justified that the search result is not always perfect and is based on algorithms. It further said that it is working forward to avoid any such incidents in future.

"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 apologize for the misunderstanding and hurting any sentiments," Google had said in its apology.

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