We’ve written about a bunch of court cases around the globe, in which Google was sued (and often found liable) for the results of its autocomplete feature, which suggests popular searches based on what users have typed. For reasons that still are unfathomable to me, courts seem to think that Google should somehow be considered responsible for displaying what its users are searching for. These kinds of lawsuits appear to be particularly popular in France, and the latest one seems especially silly. Apparently Google is being sued because autocomplete sometimes shows the name of famous people with the keyword “jew” after them. This includes such non-Jews as Rupert Murdoch and Jon Hamm.

The lawsuit is being fought by a group, SOS Racisme, which claims to “fight discrimination,” but if that’s the case, then one hopes that racism has all but been obliterated in France, since the group has moved on to fighting ridiculous cases like this one. All that Google autocomplete is showing is that a lot of people (potentially ignorant ones) have searched for these names, along with the keyword “jew” or “jewish” to determine if the individual is Jewish. The fact that users search for something and Google displays that isn’t something Google should be liable for. Why blame Google for the actions of its users?

But, more to the point — and I say this as someone who is Jewish — what the hell is anti-semitic about doing such searches in the first place? I’m really at a complete loss to understand why this is so horrible. Yes, the reason behind the searches may be ignorance (and some of the results may point to pages that spread ignorance), but the group bringing the lawsuit seem to be suggesting that this is an absolutely horrible thing that people may be prompted to do searches on whether or not non-Jews are really Jews. The only way this story makes any sense is if all real racism and anti-semitism and other forms of ignorance and bigotry have all been eradicated in Europe. Assuming that’s not actually the case, perhaps it’s just one clueless group overreacting.

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