Google Maps once linked racist search term to the White House during Barack Obama’s presidency

A resurfaced episode from 2015 has returned to the spotlight after recent news coverage highlighted a Google Maps glitch that directed users to the White House when they typed a racist phrase during Barack Obama’s presidency. The issue, widely reported at the time, emerged in May 2015 when Maps users discovered that entering an offensive racial insult associated with African Americans pulled up the official residence of the US President. Obama, the first Black president, was in office at the time, making the incident particularly shocking and politically sensitive.

Google acknowledged the error soon after it became public. In statements released during the episode, the company said the result was “unacceptable” and admitted that racially offensive queries were being inadvertently linked to the White House because of the way Maps indexed user-generated content and online references. The company did not confirm who or what caused the incorrect association but stated that it was likely the result of Maps’ algorithmic indexing systems picking up malicious or widely repeated phrases on the internet.

The glitch quickly sparked international media attention. Reports noted that the error occurred both on desktop and mobile versions of Maps, and that several search phrases containing the slur delivered the same incorrect result. Google temporarily disabled portions of its Map Maker tools, which allowed users to edit geographic information, after acknowledging that the system had become vulnerable to offensive pranks and manipulation.

Following public outcry, Google conducted an internal review and rolled out changes to prevent similar incidents. These included stricter filtering of offensive language, more oversight of user-submitted map edits and updated training data to block harmful associations. “We’re working to fix this issue as quickly as possible,” Google said at the time, emphasising that the behaviour was not intentional.