Hours after a search result was discovered that called Kannada the “ugliest language in India”, Google issued an apology for “the misunderstanding and hurting any sentiments.” The company further noted that it is continually working to improve its algorithms and the results to search queries are not the reflective opinion of the technology giant. 

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The statement read "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 India also put out the same statement in Kannada. 

We apologize for the misunderstanding and hurting any sentiments. pic.twitter.com/nltsVezdLQ

Kanndigas and several politicians expressed their displeasure over the search query “What is the ugliest language in India?” The query came up with an automated result saying “The answer is Kannada, a language spoken by around 40 million people in south India.”

The answer to the query was picked up from a page on a website named ‘debtconsolidationsquad’ that featured the answer to the question on its page. The website has other answers related to questions such as “easiest language in India '' and “most beautiful language in India.” 

Following the discovery, Bengaluru Central Member of Parliament from BJP, PC Mohan demanded an apology from Google India. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Mukund Gowda also wrote to Google India asking for the search result to be taken down and take action against those responsible.

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