Kannada ‘ugliest’ language row: Google apologises after outrage

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Kannada as the answer to a Google query on the ugliest language in India sparked severe outrage on June 3. The Karnataka government said it would issue a legal notice to the tech leader, while that reply appeared to be a gaffe.

With people expressing their indignation and leaders cutting across party lines slamming Google, it quickly removed Kannada “as the ugliest language in India” and apologised to the people saying the search result did not reflect its opinion.

Karnataka Minister for Kannada, Culture and Forest, Aravind Limbavali told reporters that a legal notice would be served to Google for showing such an answer to that question.

Later, he took to Twitter to express his outrage and demanded an apology from Google to Kannada and Kannadigas.

The Kannada language has a history of its own, having come into existence as many as 2,500 years ago, the minister said and added that the language has been the pride of Kannadigas through the ages.

Showing Kannada in poor light “…is merely an attempt by Google to insult this pride of Kannadigas. I demand an apology from @Google ASAP to Kannada, Kannadigas. Legal action will be taken against Google for maligning the image of our beautiful language!” Limbavali tweeted.

When contacted, a Google spokesperson 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.”

Former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy denounced Google in a series of tweets for the outrageous answer to the language question. He sought to know why Google “behaves in an irresponsible manner” in terms of language.

Others including the BJP’s Bengaluru Central MP, PC Mohan slammed Google and asked it to apologise.

Sharing the screenshot of the search on his Twitter handle, Mohan said Karnataka is home to the great Vijayanagara empire and the Kannada language has a rich heritage, a glorious legacy, and unique culture.

“One of the world’s oldest languages, Kannada had great scholars who wrote epics much before Geoffrey Chaucer was born in the 14th century. Apologise @GoogleIndia.”