Google Finally Moves On Hate Speech, Neo-Nazi Site Slapped

Google has been facing tough criticism from major global powers for some time now due to its inept handling of hate speech online. Germany has been leaning particularly heavy on the tech company to start penalizing or removing websites that promote racism, sexism, and generally offensive behavior. It would seem that Google finally took the complaints seriously, with one particularly nasty Neo-Nazi website getting downgraded in the rankings.

The website in question is a white supremacist hub which appeared at the top of Google’s search list when looking for details on the holocaust, NBC News reports. Along with other results that provide details on the experiences of Jews during the horrific piece of history, the site offers a different perspective in that it denies the holocaust happened altogether. The site has since been removed from appearing at the top of the query page.

When asked to comment on the matter, a Google spokesperson essentially said its main concern was to provide users with the information that they are looking for. The only problem is that their methods don’t always produce the best results.

"Understanding which pages on the web best answer a query is a challenging problem and we don't always get it right," the spokesperson said.

In a statement to The Huffington Post, Google said that the changes that it made will provide users with more accurate results from high quality and credible sources. However, the tech company didn’t specifically address the matter of the Neo-Nazi site having an absurdly high ranking on holocaust searches.

In practice, at least, this decision is a reversal of the tech company’s previous stance to leave controversial topics alone. Last month, Google specifically said that they would not tamper with search results even if they had an anti-Semitic message. They would only act on illegal activities, malware, and any content that violates their company policy.