Public Transit Google Search Leads Teacher to Porn in Class

Nov 30, 2009 - 8:30 am 0 by
Filed Under Google

I might be exaggerating just a bit in the title of this post, but it appears that a teacher was searching for public transit information in class and was shown pornographic web sites instead. A Google Web Search Help thread says he/she searched for [is the tube free] in Google, while in class, and was shown a listing of pornographic sites.

The searcher said:

I don't even see the relevance of porn when asking a question about public transport. I know the tube isn't free, I was just curious if anyone said it was, stupidly.

Tube in this case was meant to be public transit, as in tunnels and roads like that. Not as in YouTube or TV or free television.

Most of the search results for that query lead to pornographic sites, here is a screen shot of the first two results:

Porn for Public Transit Search

Yes, my safesearch is set to the normal setting. There is no response from a Googler yet, but I see why these types of results came up for such a query - just in hindsight, not sure if they should have.

Forum discussion at Google Web Search Help.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
- YouTube
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: February 6, 2026

Feb 6, 2026 - 10:00 am
Search Video Recaps

Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google Discover Core Update, Listicles Hit, Google Ads, ChatGPT Ads Ready & Microsoft Publisher Content Marketplace

Feb 6, 2026 - 8:01 am
Google

Google AI Mode Follow Up Search Suggestions

Feb 6, 2026 - 7:51 am
Google Ads

Google Ads Mixed Campaign Type Experiments Live For Some

Feb 6, 2026 - 7:41 am
Bing Search

Bing Unshipping Frankenstein Recipes In Search

Feb 6, 2026 - 7:31 am
Google Ads

Google Partner Portal Gets A Redesign

Feb 6, 2026 - 7:21 am
 
Previous Story: Video Recap of Weekly Search Buzz :: November 27, 2009