Karnataka HC disposes plea against Google India after company issues an apology

A division bench of acting Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Sachin Shankar Magadum pointed out that Google India has tendered an apology and has assured that such incidents will not take place in the future.

The Karnataka high court on Wednesday disposed of a petition seeking action against Google India for showing that Kannada was the “ugliest language in the world”. The matter was disposed after the petitioner withdrew the plea since Google India had offered an apology.

The petitioner, the Anti-Corruption Council of India Trust, had sought direction from the company to pay a compensation of ₹10 crore for causing defamation.  (Reuters file photo)

A division bench of acting Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Sachin Shankar Magadum pointed out that Google India has tendered an apology and has assured that such incidents will not take place in the future.“Learned counsel appearing for the petitioner at this stage prays for withdrawal of the petition with the liberty to take recourse to the other remedies available in law. The PIL is disposed of in the above terms,” the bench said.

On June 3, several Kannadigas, including political representatives and activists expressed displeasure after Kannada was shown as the answer for the question “ which is the ugliest language in India”. The answer was picked up from a page on a website named debtconsolidationsquad.com, which featured this answer amidst a series of questions and answers on languages across the world, including questions on “easiest language in India ‘’ and “most beautiful language in India.”

“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,” read the apology from Google India.