Google to begin flagging “upsetting” or “offensive” content

Various news outlets are reporting that Google will begin flagging content that is “upsetting” or “offensive.” The flags will be used to update its search algorithms.

According to the Belfast Telegraph, Google says the flag should be applied to various results, including any which are deemed to “promote hate or violence against a group of people based on race, religion, ethnicity” or “would be deemed offensive or upsetting in specific regions around the world.”

The question for people following the Israeli-Palestinian issue and efforts to define criticism of Zionism as anti-Semitism is whether Google’s editors will deem humanitarian criticism “offensive” or “upsetting” to those criticized.

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