Bettina Wulff, wife of the former President of Germany, has sued Google for keywords such as ‘red light district’ and ‘prostitute’ which are added to her name whenever her name is typed into Google’s search engine.
Explaining how Google Search works, Kay Oberbeck, Head of PR for Google Germany said, “All terms that appear have been previously entered by Google users.”
Even though she denies ever having worked as a prostitute or any escort work before her marriage, the rumors continue to spread to several media outlets and online as well. According to sources, these rumors have been made so as to cause issues for her husband, Christian Wulff, and his career in politics.
Wulff has spent 2 years fighting these allegations and only recently, her lawyers issued 34 successful cease-and-desist orders, including a prominent German television personality. Google now faces a defamation suit, thanks to the auto-generated text when her name is typed on Google.
According to Google, the auto-generated text is generated algorithmically while also depending on the popularity of the entered search terms made earlier by Google users.
However, this is not the first time that Google has been sued as an unnamed man in Japan was able to disable search terms that linked certain crimes with his name, which, according to him, was not committed by him.
In looking for information on Bettina Wulff on Google’s rival search engine, Bing.com, the same results also have been found, and which really reflects what others are looking for online.