COVID-19 is wreaking havoc throughout the world but that hasn’t stopped many people from attaching to and using it to further their own agendas. Google are looking to prevent some of this by blocking certain xenophobic terms used for it in their auto-prediction tool on Gboard.
Although some public officials have used certain terminology to incite their base the World Health Organisation has warned against attaching a name such as this to the disease. The disease is actually COVID-19, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus and to stigmatise a certain country or population for it is irrational racial profiling according to the World Health Organisation.
According to tech blogger Jane Manchun Wong Google’s move to block the auto prediction tool on Gboard from suggesting terms such as these is not the first time they have used such measures to prevent false information from being spread. For example “global warming is a hoax” is also blocked (and obviously false to anyone who believes in science and facts) along with other sexist and racist terms.
The terms that Google is now blocking include:
- China disease
- China virus
- Chinese disease
- Chinese virus
- Asia disease
- Asia virus
- virus
Of course many people who like to use these terminologies will continue and can continue to do so but Google will not help them. They will have to type it all by themselves with their fat, inbred, irrational, racist fingers.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.inputmethod.latin
