Google Apologizes for Racial Slur on News Alert

Google has issued an apology after a Google News push alert linked to coverage of this year’s BAFTA Awards appeared to prompt users to “see more” using a racial slur, sparking outrage online.

The notification was connected to reporting on controversy from the ceremony, where a member of the audience who has Tourette’s syndrome uttered the slur as part of an involuntary tic while actors Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo were on stage.

A Google spokesperson said the company had acted quickly after the alert surfaced. “We’re deeply sorry for this mistake. We’ve removed the offensive notification and are working to prevent this from happening again,” the spokesperson said.

After screenshots circulated on social media, some users suggested the alert was the result of generative AI. Google pushed back on that claim, saying the wording was not produced by generative AI.

Instead, the company said the slur appeared due to a breakdown in its safety protections for push notifications. According to Google, its content systems detected that the slur was appearing repeatedly in online coverage related to the incident and then mistakenly used that term to describe the topic being surfaced to users.

Google acknowledged the alert should never have made it through, and said it is now improving the “safety triggers” and other guardrails meant to block hateful language from being sent out in notifications.

Google noted that the alert was removed quickly and was visible to only a small number of users, though the incident drew attention given Google News’ massive reach, particularly in the United States, where it remains one of the most downloaded news apps.

The issue gained wider traction after online creator Danny Price posted about the notification on Instagram, criticizing the timing during Black History Month in the US.

The controversy has also led to apologies from those connected to the awards ceremony and its broadcast, after the racist language became part of the live event before later being removed from some versions of the coverage.