On Tuesday, Google Shopping decided to remove all search results for the word “gun”–but the resulting disaster was clearly not what the intended.
While the intended search results, like AR-15s and handguns, were in fact eliminated from Google Shopping, the too-broad search also eliminated a number of completely innocent, completely unrelated items from appearing.
Suddenly vanished from Google Shopping?
- Water guns and glue guns.
- Albums from the bands “Guns and Roses” and “The Sex Pistols.”
- Movies like “Top Gun” and “The Man with the Golden Gun.”
- And even items that came in the color “burgundy.”
Google seemed to realize their mistake; by Tuesday evening, they seemed to have fixed the harmless household items from their search results–though firearms are still unable to be found.
This new anti-gun gambit from Google comes as they face a pending lawsuit from former employee James Damore.
Damore, who was fired after a memo criticizing Google’s diversity hiring process as ineffective went viral, has accused Google of discriminating against employees for their (male) gender and (conservative) political beliefs–which are crimes in California, where the tech giant is based.