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Why Does a Google Search for ‘Jewish Baby Stroller’ Results in Anti-Semitic Images? Here’s What Search Engine Giant Has to Say About the Viral Image Search Controversy

While the internet is a great place to be in, it has, unfortunately, have become a hotbed of anti-Semitism. More and more videos with anti-Semitic incitement are being surfaced on social media, and the trend supported by current studies must be stropped as soon as possible. A collection of offensive memes called, “Jewish Baby Stroller Memes” went viral on social media. Starting reportedly in 2017, there have been various posts on the same, and now, if you type “Jewish baby strollers,” to Google, it results in the images of barbeque grills, an abhorrent reference to the holocaust. The images are a part of the distasteful meme collection of Jewish Baby Strollers. But why does a Google search for ‘Jewish Baby Stroller’ results in anti-Semitic images? Search engine giant explained about the viral image search controversy. Twitter Algorithm for Image Previews is Racist as well as Sexist? Netizens Show Examples Pointing to The Flawed Bias in Photo Cropping; Know What it Means.

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If a user enters, “Jewish baby carriages,” into the Google search tab, the first results appearing on the site are the images of ovens. Historical images of Jewish women pushing strollers and more disturbing photos of large black ovens.

Here Are the Images:

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Google apologised for the ‘hateful memes’ on Twitter through its Search Liasion, their account that gives insight as to how Google search works. In the Twitter thread, the company said that the “Jewish baby stroller,” search results did not reflect their opinions. “It was noticed today hateful memes appear in image results for “jewish baby strollers.” We apologize. These don’t reflect our opinions. We try to show content matching all key terms searched for, as people normally want. But for “data voids” like this, it can be problematic,” reads the statement.

Here's the Tweet:

They reasoned that it was not something people typically searched for, which is why there is a “void” for proper results on Google. “For “baby strollers”, there’s lots of helpful content. For this, there’s not. That’s not surprising. It’s not likely a topic normally searched for, nor an actual product that’s marketed. There’s a “void” of good content to surface that matches what was asked for,” the company explained on Twitter.

Read the Tweet:

“That’s the explanation of why these appear. It’s not meant as an excuse. We’ve done considerable work with improving data void situations & finding systematic improvements. We’ll look at this situation to see how we can further improve. Our apologies again for the concerns here,” Google explained further.

The Company Will Look at This Situation to Solve it

The search engine giant even went on explaining how they keep their search relevant and useful accompany a link to their policies.

Google's Policies

The company concluded saying, “Working to improve our results generally takes more time but helps ensure any improvements work overall, not just for one situation but many. These images may also be removed if the sites hosting them remove them. If that happens, content drops out naturally over time.”

Images May be Removed if the Sites Hosting Them is Removed

The images are a major cause for concern considering the dramatic increase of hateful content on social media. Google is currently looking into the situation if they can solve it.