Search engine Google has been accused of censoring its results after users discovered it does not suggest search terms when it comes to Islam.
Typing ‘Christianity is’ in the Google search box yields a host of odd and possibly offensive results, as does ‘Judaism is’ or ‘Buddhism is.’ However, changing the search query to ‘Islam is’ yields nothing.
Moreover, when you type the phrase ‘Islam will’, the search box gives you ‘Islam will dominate world’, ‘Islam will rule the world’, ‘Islam will take over the world’, and so on, in a similar vein. However, when you enter ‘Christianity will’, it gives you ‘Christianity will end and disappear’.
It has been suggested that the discrepancy has led some to conclude that Google, famed for its democratic approach to the world of information it controls, is censoring its search results.
The company also explains:
‘We try to filter out suggestions that include pornographic terms, dirty words, and hate and violence terms. If you encounter a term that should not be suggested, please let us know by posting in the Google Web Search Help Forum.’
A Google spokesperson explained that the strange absence of results is just a software problem. He said:
‘This is in fact a bug and we're working to fix it as quickly as we can.’
However, the company would not respond to requests for clarification.