Google Shopping ‘gun’ ban filters out burgundy wine and Guns N’ Roses

WINE lovers found they could no longer purchase their favourite burgundy tipple using Google Shopping yesterday after the internet giant cracked down on search queries featuring the term “gun”.

An eagle-eyed shopper noticed that Google Shopping, which allows users to compare product prices from thousands of online retailers, had removed all “gun” search results.

Shoppers said they were unable to browse dozens of products, including burgundy wine, water guns and music by Guns N’ Roses. Searches for nail guns, glue guns and Gunnersaurus, Arsenal FC’S mascot, also returned the message: “Your search did not match any shopping results.”

Google has banned weapons listings since 2012, however online shoppers have highlighted certain product unavailability since the Florida school shooting on Feb 14, which left 17 dead.

One Twitter user complained: “You can’t shop for anything ‘burgundy’ on Google shopping because it contains the word gun’. Google any explanation?”

Google appeared to have addressed the issue by last night and changed its filter to permit search terms such as “burgundy”, where “gun” was not an isolated word. The company said it was looking into the issue of other products featuring “gun” being removed from search results.

“We banned weapons related listings on Google Shopping as far back as 2012,” a spokesman told The Daily Telegraph. Google said it has a “strict policy”, enforced globally, against sales of guns and functional parts.