Sir Winston Churchill, the former British Prime Minister and one of the most prominent figures of World War 2, was recently deleted on Google Search. The disappearance of Churchill's images on the search engine only took a few minutes.
However, it was said that Google might intentionally remove the picture, as statues of Churchill in the UK were being vandalized with the words "was a racist" in response to "Black Lives Matter" protests around the world.
Where's Winston Churchill?: Google Search accidentally deletes ex-British Prime Minister
A demonstrator reacts infront of graffiti on a statue of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square during a Black Lives Matter protest in London, following the death of George Floyd who died in police custody in Minneapolis, London, Britain, June 7, 2020.
On Sunday, June 14, Newsweek reported a missing picture on Google Search. It was an image of one of the most powerful British men in history, Winston Churchill.
Google has said that it was only a minor glitch. When they heard about the issue, the company immediately fixed the problem and returned Churchill's images to their database.
"We're aware an image for Sir Winston Churchill is missing from his Knowledge Graph entry on Google," the company said in a statement. "This was not purposeful and will be resolved. Images in such panels are automatically created & updated. During an update, they can briefly disappear."
Who is Winston Churchill?
People climb on the Winston Churchill statue in Westminster during a "Black Lives Matter" protest following the death of George Floyd who died in police custody in Minneapolis, London, Britain, June 3, 2020
Churchill was known for his time as the British prime minister who lead his country during its "darkest hour" in World War 2. He also became England's prime minister twice in a row. However, controversies regarding his beliefs and political stance were also criticized, even by his fellow British citizens.
The World War 2 general was tagged as "racist" by "Black Lives Matter" protesters in Parliament Square, London since last week.
According to author Shrabani Basu, who has written books about the British Empire, there are a lot of things that ordinary people don't know about Churchill. Basu argues that Churchill has "two sides," a good and a bad.
Aside from being cited as a hero during the war, Churchill was said to be part of the 1943 Bengal famine that killed at least three million people.
The "racist" reference, however, was based on the accusations that the official was in favor of the slavery system at the time. However, Churchill already explained his side and said that Black people have a "stronger race, a higher-grade race, a more worldly-wise race to put it that way, has come in and taken their place." Therefore, saying that no crimes were made against their rights.
For now, Google has already returned the images, but the protests continue.
