Google justifies ‘hot’ output of ‘masala’ search

Thiruvananthapuram: Internet search engine giant Google has justified the display of “hot” pictures while searching for “South Indian Masala”.

According to Google, the search results are delivered on the basis of previous search history and patterns. Hence the phenomenon.

Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor had taken up the issue with Google chief executive officer Sundar Pichai through a tweet after he came across social media posts in this regard.

The irony is, while the search for “South Indian Masala” delivers steamy pictures of buxom women, the search for “North Indian Masala” throws up varieties of spices and North Indian dishes. Online search behaviour seems to have almost altered the historical fact that Kerala is considered the “spice garden of India”.

Responding to Mr Tharoor’s tweet, Google said that Google search engine results were delivered on the basis of understanding of intent, user happiness and previous results. It has also suggested, as though it could provide some relief for hurt southerners, that the search for “Hindi Masala”, as opposed to “North India masala”, would deliver hot pictures.

Interestingly, with South Indian and North Indian “masala” becoming a hot debate in the cyber space, the search for “North India Masala” is also delivering hot images regarding the debate these days.

Mr Tharoor tagged Sundarpichai and Google on his tweet terming the display of “hot” picture for “South Indian Masala” as “bizarre and disgraceful”. He also wanted the phenomenon explained, and fixed.

Apart from Mr Tharoor, hundreds of others also flayed Google for the embarrassing results “South Indian Masala” throws up. However, there were many who justified Google. Some even went to the extent of ridiculing Mr Tharoor by referring to results of personal searches regarding Mr Tharoor.

IT experts said that Google search engine works on an algoritham that analyses inputs for searches based on search histories. Majority of those who had searched for “South Indian Masala” or similar key words could have targeted “hot” pictures of South Indian women. So when the rare unsuspecting spice connoisseur types “South India Masala”, she gets the shock of her life when, instead of cardamom, ginger and turmeric, women in tantalising postures pops up on her mobile or computer screen.