Google apologizes for India PM Modi's inclusion on 'criminals' search

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., June 4 (UPI) -- Google Inc. apologized to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for including his photograph in an image search of criminals.

By searching for "top 10 criminals" on Wednesday, an Internet user could find Modi's picture alongside gangsters, terrorists, dictators and Justin Bieber. Google blamed metadata, often invisible information offering suggestions to a search engine, from an unidentified British news site, which included a photo of Modi.

Google algorithms use up to 200 factors when examining web pages to create indexes that transfer names, and in this case, Modi's photo, to lists. The company suggested it reviewed articles mentioning Modi and politicians with criminal backgrounds; while never suggesting Modi was a criminal, the word appears in close proximity to his name in some stories.

"These results trouble us and are not reflective of the opinions of Google. Sometimes the way images are described on the Internet can yield surprising results to specific queries. We apologize for any confusion or misunderstanding this has caused. We're continually working to improve our algorithms to prevent unexpected results like this," a statement from Google said.