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Google to keep top-ranking anti-Semitic websites
Right to free speech or just plain insensitive? Google stands by its rankings

By Jo Best

Published: Wednesday 14 April 2004

Google has defended its stance over the anti-Semitic website that tops its rankings, saying that however distasteful the site may be, it will have to stay to preserve the ranking system's objectivity.

It's the search results for the word "Jew" that are causing all the problems for the online giant – the site that ranks first is anti-Semitic Jewwatch.com, which links to other anti-Jewish sites and lists various supposed Jewish conspiracies.

Google has publicly declared that it finds the site distasteful, but because the company's rankings are determined by algorithms and not people, Google believes that removing the offensive site will call into question the search engine's objectivity. Its current policy is only to intervene in cases where a site's content is illegal.

The legal niceties of the situation, however, vary from country to country. While the Jewwatch site may be allowed under the US's constitutional First Amendment right to free speech, the German and French versions of Google won't show the site in any search results due to legislation banning race-hate websites.

Although Google says it has no plans to take down the site, anti-Jewwatch websites and petitions have been created, calling for the site's removal and demonstrating the strength of feeling surrounding the issue. The email forwards that have been circulating on the internet this week have been requesting 50,000 signatures to force Google to change its mind. That target was beaten yesterday.

Google, however, maintains that no amount of signatures will lead to a change of heart. Sergey Brin, Google's founder and Jewish himself, told Reuters that he found the site offensive but didn’t believe the site should be taken down.

"I certainly am very offended by the site but the objectivity of our rankings is one of our very important principles," he said.