WHEN GOOGLE GOT IT WRONG

It’s easy to forgive Google’s early mistakes; most were made when the Internet was in its infancy. Here’s a look at some of the bigger problems they’ve faced over the past 20 years.

Accidental racism:

In mid-2015, the fledgling facial-recognition software from Google Photos tagged two black teenagers in a picture as ‘Gorillas’. Google took the tags down in under 15 hours.

Catalog Search:

Between 2002 and 2009, Google had the bright idea to digitally record thousands of paper catalogues so buyers could browse online. It never took off.

Google Video:

A short-lived attempt to offer video services bombed. In 2005, two years after struggling against YouTube, it bought out its rival.

Google Wave:

It was hyped as next-gen email in 2009. Users were too confused and the wave washed out.

Google Buzz:

Buzz integrated a whole bunch of products, including Twitter, in Gmail. Privacy infringement cases followed, and Buzz was discontinued in 2011.

Fake news:

Google’s tech, designed to allow anyone to upload material, didn’t account for the fact that enough users would publish enough lies to trick the algorithms into believing they were real. Years later, Google hasn’t done enough to produce better filters or take responsibility for its impact.

Google Glass:

Sure, the tech-enabled spectacles offered a host of services. But the glasses caused a host of accidents, and more importantly, no one wanted to look that stupid.

Diversity at the company:

Google’s first transparency report in 2014 revealed that the staff was mostly male, white, or Asian. Not enough has changed for a company that services most of the planet. In 2017 the company was still 80% male, 53% white and 39% Asian.