Google’s leading definition for the word ‘Jew’ showed offensive terms
Searching 'Jew' on Google rendered an offensive result
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A search for the word "Jew" on Google Tuesday temporarily had the engine telling users that the word is an offensive verb.
The top definition that appeared in search results — up until around 1 p.m. ET — described the word "Jew" as to "bargain with someone in a miserly or petty way," with the origin being "in reference to old stereotypes associating Jewish people with trading and moneylending."
Farther down was the noun definition for Jew, which Google describes as "a member of the people and cultural community whose traditional religion is Judaism and who trace their origins through the Hebrew people of Israel to Abraham."
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What the Google search engine was temporarily displaying as the top definition for the word "jew."
When asked by Fox News Digital about the matter, Google flagged a tweet by Danny Sullivan, its public liaison for Search, giving its explanation of what happened.
"Our apologies. Google licenses definitions from third-party dictionary experts," the tweet said. "We only display offensive definitions by default if they are the main meaning of a term. As this is not the case here, we have blocked this & passed along feedback to the partner for further review."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In a page on Google's support website, it says, "Dictionary boxes show definitions from third-party expert sources and might include related images, pronunciations, translations, and other information."
Under a section that says, "Where info in Dictionary boxes comes from," Google says it "doesn’t create, write, or modify definitions" and that "Dictionary results don’t reflect the opinions of Google."
"We license definitions, which include examples, similar and opposite words, and origins, from third-party experts who compile dictionaries," it says.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Our partners label these terms as vulgar, derogatory, or otherwise offensive to provide proper context about them," the website adds. "We only display an offensive definition by default when it’s the main meaning of the term."
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The ordering of the definitions has been drawing criticism on Twitter.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The website, around 1 p.m. ET, changed the leading definition again to the noun form.
"When one enters ‘jew’ into the Google search engine, a grotesque antisemitic trope comes up. This is in unacceptable @Google," wrote StopAntisemitism, which describes itself as a "Leading non-partisan American based organization fighting antisemitism."
"I couldn’t believe it so I googled it myself… hey @Google, what’s antisemitism?" added Elad Strohmayer, a spokesman for the Israeli Ambassador to the U.S.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Simon Wiesenthal Center, said in a statement to Fox News Digital, "This does not appear to be an error but a manipulation to present anti-Semitic definition as main use of word."
"Google owes explanation of who did this and why," it added.