According to a New York Times report last Wednesday, Google had apparently started providing suicide help information based on the users search. For searches such as ‘ways to commit suicide’ users were being provided with an emergency phone number listed above the regular results.
This all apparently came from the suggestion made by a mother to include useful phone number listings after her daughter had swallowed something and she was looking for the poison control centre phone number. However, the addition of the suicide prevention number marks possibly the first time that Google has used its algorithm to provide users with the opposite of what they are searching for. Despite this it would take a cold hearted person to argue that this listing shouldn’t be included because of this.
At the moment in various searches that I have made the listings seem to have disappeared suggesting that Google are re-evaluating their decision or possibly rolling out more help options. One issue that’s highlighted in a post on search engine land is the contradiction between the help number and disturbingly pro-suicide results in the top listings. A response from a Google spokesman stating “We are starting relatively conservatively” seems to suggest that this will be ongoing.
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