Outrage after Google Maps search for 'N****r House' directs users to the White House

Google was forced to suspend its Map Maker editing tool this month after users started abusing the service by adding what many considered to be amusing images.

But the latest addition has caused outrage after racist search terms started directing users to The White House.

It is believed a label was added to the Washington address for the term 'n***a house' or 'n****r house' using the service - but this has not been confirmed and it is not known how long the label has been live.

It will also happen when searching for 'n****r house' and 'n****r king' - but these only zoom in automatically to the White House if the map is already centred in or around Washington.

The problems with Map Maker began when fan site Cult of Android spotted an image of a large Android urinating on an Apple logo at coordinates 33°30'52.5"N 73°03'33.2"E. Shortly after its discovery, the image went viral and other eagle-eyed Maps users began searching for similar additions.

The suspension of Map Maker is temporary.

At the time the announcement was made, Google's Pavithra Kanakarajan posted: '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.

'As a consequence, we suspended auto-approval and user moderation across the globe, till we figure out ways to add more intelligent mechanisms to prevent such incidents.'

SOURCE

If you prohibit certain things, that will make some people keen to use them.