Indian state to sue Google over 'ugliest Indian language' search result

AN Indian state is planning to send a a legal notice to Google after the search giant showed the state's official language as the "ugliest language in India".

The southern Indian state of Karnataka said that it will sue Google as a search with these keywords on Thursday (3) showed Kannada as the top result, reported the BBC.

Later, the US firm fixed the search results and released a statement apologising for "the misunderstanding and hurting any sentiments", the report added.

Many, including leaders from the southern Indian state, expressed their outrage at the search result.

According to the report, Karnataka minister Aravind Limbavali demanded an apology from the tech company saying that this was an attempt by Google to insult the pride of Kannadigas (Kannada speakers).

"The Kannada language has a history of its own, having come into existence as many as 2,500 years ago. It has been the pride of Kannadigas all through these two-and-a-half millennia," Limbavali tweeted.

Following the outrage, Google said that the search feature wasn't always perfect, adding that sometimes "the way content is described on the internet can yield surprising results to specific queries".

"We know this is not ideal, but we take swift corrective action when we are made aware of an issue and are continually working to improve our algorithms," a statement from the tech firm said.

"Naturally, these are not reflective of the opinions of Google, and we apologise for the misunderstanding and hurting any sentiments."

"Not just Kannada, no language is bad, adding that abuse against languages is painful. Is it impossible for Google to curb such hatred against any language?," said HD Kumaraswamy, former chief minister of the state, in a string of tweets.