Google has apologized after sending a news alert about this year’s Bafta awards that included language directing users to read further using a racial slur, an incident the company said was caused by a failure in its notification safety systems.
The alert related to coverage of the fallout from the Bafta ceremony, where a member of the audience with Tourette’s syndrome used the slur as part of an involuntary tic when actors Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo appeared on stage. A Google spokesperson told the BBC, “We’re deeply sorry for this mistake. We’ve removed the offensive notification and are working to prevent this from happening again.”
How The Alert Was Generated
After the notification appeared, some social media users suggested the wording came from Google’s use of generative AI. Google said that was not the case. The company said the “see more” suggestion that included the slur resulted from a failure in the safety features that govern push notifications, which are alerts sent as text to users’ devices.
Google said its content system detected that the slur was present in a large amount of online material related to the story and then used that term to characterize the content being pushed to users. The company said the incident “shouldn’t have happened” and that it is now working to improve the safety triggers and guardrails meant to block such language from appearing in alerts.
Scope Of The Impact
Google News is one of the most downloaded news apps in the United States. The company said on Tuesday that only a small number of users would have seen the offending notification and that it was removed quickly after being identified.
Public Reaction And Initial Report
The appearance of the slur in the alert was first highlighted on Instagram by online creator Danny Price, who posted about the incident on Monday. “What an interesting Black History month this has turned out to be,” he wrote. Black History Month is observed in February in the United States.
Responses From Bafta And Broadcasters
Racist language from the Baftas ceremony has since been removed, and the leadership of the awards and the BBC, which aired the event, have both issued apologies for the language used during the broadcast.
Featured image credits: Wikimedia Commons
For more stories like it, click the +Follow button at the top of this page to follow us.