Google CEO explains why you see Trump's face when you search 'idiot'

If you've ever wondered who decides what results are served up to you when you search Google, CEO Sundar Pichai has the answer.
  
During a public hearing in front of the House Judiciary Committee in the United States, held to determine whether there is any truth to rumours that Google manipulates its search results, Pichai found himself having to explain why President Donald Trump's picture appeared on the page when someone typed "idiot" into the search box. 

Pichai told the room that the definition of a search term is based on "popularity, relevance and how other people are using it". 

Facing a panel of conservative representatives who were convinced that Google's search results "favoured liberal content", Pichai said Google algorithms "have no notion of political sentiment". He added: "it's not some little man sitting behind the curtain figuring out what we're going to show the user". 

Arguing against Pichai, the panel made points about previous instances of "Google bombing" (in which a site is manipulated to "rank highly in web search engine results for irrelevant, unrelated or off-topic search terms by linking heavily") thar brought up questionable results about famous people including George W. Bush and Michelle Obama. 

The panel remained largely unconvinced by Pichai's speech, with Ohio Republican Steve Chabot saying: "Somebody out there is doing something. I think it's happening."

Google continues to rework its algorithms to give users accurate results. 

Image: Google search engine screenshot