Google Autocomplete says Rupert Murdoch, Jon Hamm are 'Jewish'

Occurred: May 2012

French civil rights group SOS Racisme, alongside a raft of other French equality orgainsations, accused Google of wrongfuly labeling Rupert Murdoch, Jon Hamm, and other celebrities as 'Jewish'. 

The complaint alleged that Google's Autocomplete function 'systematically' equates Murdoch and others with being Jewish, thereby stereotyping and discriminating against Jews, advancing racist ideas about Jewish conspiracies, and violating a French law against compiling files on people that refer to their ethnicity. 

The case was dropped in June 2012 after both sides reached an agreement. It was unclear whether Google was forced to make any changes to Autocomplete. 

Operator: Alphabet/Google
Developer: Alphabet/Google

Country: France

Sector: Media/entertainment/sports/arts

Purpose: Predict search results

Technology: NLP/text analysis; Deep learning; Machine learning
Issue: Accuracy/reliability; Bias/discrimination; Mis/disinformation; Legal

Transparency: Governance; Black box; Legal