Google says sorry that Indian PM Modi’s face pops up when you image-search ‘top 10 criminals’

New Delhi

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi received an apology from internet search engine mammoth Google this Wednesday. The US-based tech giant apologised for "any confusion or misunderstanding" caused by the Modi's inclusion in the image search results for the query "top 10 criminals."

"These results trouble us and are not reflective of the opinions of Google," the company clarified in a statement released Wednesday. Modi's appearance at the top of the image search results for "top 10 criminals" and "top 10 criminals in India" had sparked controversy in India earlier in the day, with outrage spreading across social media platforms such as Twitter.

His face appears in images next to infamous figures such as American gangster Al Capone and the Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony.The search result spawned national coverage and a hashtag on Twitter, #top10criminals, which resulted in more than 18,000 tweets on Wednesday alone and became the top trending topic on Twitter.

As the search engine giant's apology notes, however, the inclusion of Modi in the search results wasn't a conscious decision on the part of the company. In its statement, Google confirmed that metadata was behind Modi's inclusion on the list. "Sometimes, the way images are described on the internet can yield surprising results to specific queries," the company's statement read, "We apologise for any confusion or misunderstanding this has caused. We’re continually working to improve our algorithms to prevent unexpected results like this."

some tweet links  highlighting the google are below

https://twitter.com/AR3661/status/605963017201676288/photo/1

https://twitter.com/SuvalagnaC/status/605965621814161408