Google push notification about BAFTA Awards includes racial slur
Google sent a push notification about the BAFTA Film Awards that included a racial slur in the preview text. The company stated the error occurred when its safety filters failed to prevent an offensive term from being applied to notification text, and issued a public apology after removing the alert.
What happened
Google sent a push notification about the BAFTA Film Awards that included a racial slur in the alert text. The notification linked to a Hollywood Reporter article about an incident at the ceremony and included the N-word in the preview text reading 'See more about N-----s.'
Reported impact
The notification was spotted and condemned on social media by Instagram user Danny Price, who called it 'absolutely f****d' and noted the timing during Black History Month.
Index analysis
Google stated its system 'recognised a euphemism for an offensive term on several web pages, and accidentally applied the offensive term to the notification text.' The company clarified the error was a system failure where safety filters did not properly trigger, not an AI generation problem.
Governance controls
Google removed the offensive notification and said it was 'working to prevent this from happening again.' The company issued an apology, stating 'We're very sorry for this mistake.'
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.