Google Rejects Rick Santorum's Plea to Remove Sexual Search Results
Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum has contacted Google to rid the gay sexual references to his name that appears in the top spot for searches on “santorum.”
When searching Santorum name, the first result is a blog site Santorum that contains a pronunciation and definition of the word “santorum,” which refers to a byproduct of anal sex. The word was coined by columnist Dan Savage in 2003 in response to the former US’s senator’s statements on homosexuality.
In a recent interview with Politico, Santorum said, "I suspect if something was up there like that about Joe Biden, they'd get rid of it. If you're a responsible business, you don't let things like that happen in your business that have an impact on the country.”
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He added, “To have a business allow that type of filth to be purveyed through their website or through their system is something that they say they can't handle, but I suspect that's not true."
But this problem is not new to Santorum. It began in April 2003 when he told the Associated Press that gay sex could "undermine the fabric of our society." The interview surrounded a Supreme Court case in associated with sexual privacy and Santorum linked homosexual acts to "man on child, man on dog" relationships.
The blog site Santorum was then created by Dan Savage, a gay sex-advice columnist that wanted to ridicule Santorum after comments on homosexuality.
In February of this year, Santorum acknowledged the Google search once more. "It's one guy. You know who it is. The Internet allows for this type of vulgarity to circulate. It's unfortunate that we have someone who obviously has some issues. But he has an opportunity to speak," Santorum told Roll Call.
A Google spokesperson responded to Santorum, stating that users who want "content removed from the Internet should contact the webmaster of the page directly."
The spokesperson also said Google does not "remove content from our search results, except in very limited cases such as illegal content and violations of our webmaster guidelines."
