Racial Slur In Google Maps Leads To White House: Video

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Google Maps is apologizing for a major problem in their system. When a person typed in a racial slur into the search, the map system directed to The White House. Google Maps has said it is working to fix the problem.

According to USA Today:

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Typing a combination of a racial slur and the word “house” into Google Maps is pulling up the White House for some users.

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Howard University alumni Bomani Buckhalter told the Huffington Post that friends told him that searching “N***** house” in Google Maps pulled up 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Buckhalter said that the search doesn’t work for everyone, though many in the D.C. area have been able to duplicate it.

“It is location-based, so for some of the students that are not currently in D.C., the search result was different. However, even if you’re not in D.C., ‘(N) House Washington D.C.’ shows the same result,” he added.

USA TODAY Network tried the search on Wednesday morning and was directed to the White House. The search “N***** king” also pulls up the White House address.

Google told The Washington Post it’s aware of the situation and working to fix it. Initial efforts by USA TODAY Network to reach Google have proved unsuccessful.

This isn’t the first time users have used Google Maps in an offensive manner. On May 12, Google shut down its Map Maker function after a user drew an Android icon urinating on an Apple logo.

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The Map Maker function allows users to draw roads, rivers and green spaces into Google Maps.

“We have been experiencing escalated attacks to spam Google Maps over the past few months. The most recent incident was particularly troubling and unfortunate. A strong user in our community chose to go and create a large scale prank on the Map,” Pavithra Kanakarajan, a Google Map Maker team member wrote in a post after the Google Maps hack.

Google suspended auto-approval after the Google Maps incident and said it was working to find a solution.