Kannadigas outraged as Google search shows Kannada as 'ugliest' language

Bengaluru: Google came under fire from the people of Karnataka on Thursday after it stirred a controversy for showing Kannada as the 'world's ugliest language' in response to a query.

The Google search for the "ugliest language in India" showed the answer as Kannada, triggering a storm of protest from across the globe and people started sharing screenshots of the Google search and expressed their shock and dismay.

"What is the ugliest language in India? The answer is Kannada, a language spoken by around 40 million people in south India." reads Google search.

Taking exception to the search result, Bengaluru Central Member of Parliament from BJP PC Mohan demanded an apology from Google India. "Home to the great Vijayanagara Empire, Kannada language has a rich heritage, a glorious legacy and a unique culture. One of the world's oldest languages, Kannada had great scholars who wrote epics much before Geoffrey Chaucer was born in the 14th century. Apologise Google India" PC Mohan said.

The Google answer was sourced from a website debtconsolidationsquad.com, which was reported by users. By around 3 pm, Google altered the results for the search amidst widespread criticism. Although the page now shows a 429 error response (Too Many Requests), by then, videos and thousands of social media posts were shared criticizing the search result. Reacting to this, the government of Karnataka also asserted that it will take legal action against Google following outrage over the search result.

In a statement, Kannada & Culture Minister Aravind Limbavali said, "Kannada language has a history of its own, having come into existence as many as 2,500 years ago! It has been the pride of Kannadigas all through these two-and-a-half millennia. If Kannada is now called the ugliest language in India, it is merely an attempt by Google to insult this pride of Kannadiga."

The outrage continued to pour in as one social media user tagged Google and asked them to take strict action in this regard.

President of AAP youth State wing Mukund Gowda in a letter to Google India Vice President Sanjay Gupta, said, "I take a serious exception to the search results shown by Google when someone searches for 'Ugliest Languages in India'. Unfortunately, 'Kannada' is the answer which comes up on the screen."

He further wrote, "While there is no Ugly Language in India, Google should have been sensitive to even show any result for this search. I believe this is the result gathered based on inputs and user experience that is logged as answered by some anti-Kannada users of Google."

When contacted, a Google spokesperson said, "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 apologise for the misunderstanding and hurting any sentiments."

Kannada language has a history of its own, having come into existence as many as 2,500 years ago! It has been the pride of Kannadigas all through these two-and-a-half millennia. If Kannada is now called the ugliest language in India, it is merely an attempt by Google to insult this pride of Kannadiga

Aravind Limbavali,

Kannada & Culture Minister