Google to retain Michelle Obama's offensive image

The image was posted last month on the blog called “Hot Girls” without any explanation. The blog also contains other pictures of Michelle Obama.

A complaint about the image had appeared last week on Google help forum and a Google employee had responded to the complaint Wednesday saying that they cannot remove the image "simply because the content is in very poor taste or because we receive complaints concerning it".

But the image suddenly disappeared later that day. Google sited that it had removed the image because it was serving malware to users’ computers.

Google issues disclaimer
Now the image is back again. This time accompanied with an explanation.

The message says, “Sometimes Google search results from the Internet can include disturbing content, even from innocuous queries. We assure you that the views expressed by such sites are not in any way endorsed by Google."

It further states that any site’s ranking in Google's search results depends on computer algorithms, which “considers thousands of factors to calculate a page's relevance to a given query”. The preferences and opinion of Google workers or the general public does not impact search results.

Providing explanation for restoring the site, Google stated that a site is not removed unless it contains any content that is illegal or breaches their “Webmaster Guidelines”.

This is not the first time that the search giant has issued a disclaimer. Google had issued such a statement in the past when search for the word “Jew” gave top ranking to an anti-Semitic site on the search engine.

There are many cartoons and images online that can offend readers, but they have not been removed because they do not offend Google’s guidelines.

Viewers reactions
The reports of Google offering explanation for the Michelle Obama’s image surely seems to be drawing traffic to the posting site, “Hot Girls”.

It has, indeed, stirred quite a numbers of readers online into leaving their comments on the posting site. Majority of the readers have criticized the blogger and his attempt to drive traffic.

A reader named Anonymous commented, “Whorish way to drive traffic to your inane blog. But you know the old saying -- 'if it barks like a whore....”

Another reader stated, “Disgusting. Enjoy your 15 minutes, you sl33zebag.”

"Dear Sir. Michelle Obama is smarter than you, richer than you, more educated than you, more successful than you (alone and with her family), lives in our White House and is an icon. As a white person, I believe your horrid little photo is the single greatest argument for pluralism. Thank you for making the case,” stated a reader named Caroline Soodek.