Google suspended a popular game named after former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill because the game included an image of cigars, according to a Facebook post from the game’s creators.
“After going back and forth with Google, we have discovered the issue of Churchill Solitaire’s suspension,” the game’s creators noted in a Thursday post. “Referencing our app icon of Churchill with his ubiquitous cigar, Google said that ‘we found that your app references drug use.'”
Google removed the game from its Google Play store as a result of the icon, according to the post. Churchill Solitaire says its Android users have been offline for a week as a result of Google’s move.
The nearly two-year-old game, which is the brainchild of former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, was reinstated only after the Churchill Solitaire Facebook page noted that Churchill was famous for smoking cigars.
“We’ve now resolved the issue by explaining to Google that Churchill’s were cigars of tobacco (distinct from ‘drug use’),” the post notes. “As of last night, our Android users are free once again to download the game and get in-app purchases via Google Play.”
Google Play currently features an application called Leafly Marijuana Reviews, which reviews different types of strains of marijuana and directs customers to dispensaries around the country. The company has not yet responded to The Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
“Maybe Google knows something about Churchill that we don’t, but there’s no record or evidence of the most studied, analyzed, and dissected figure in history using drugs,” Keith Urbahn, an administrator for the Churchill Solitaire Facebook page, told TheDCNF. “It’s ludicrous.”
A demonstrator holds up a sign in the doorway as Google CEO Sundar Pichai testifies at a House Judiciary Committee on greater transparency in Washington, U.S., Dec. 11, 2018. (Photo: REUTERS/Jim Young)
Google also launched an application in November allowing citizens to report what they consider instances of blasphemy to the Indonesian government. People found guilty of such laws face a maximum of five years in prison. The application faux pas come as the company faces a slew of criticisms.
The so-called Smart Pakem app was created through the Google Play platform and allows users to report “deviant” religious ideas directly to Indonesian authorities. The country’s anti-blasphemy laws target “those who disgrace a religion” or who otherwise express “hostility” to religion.
Solitaire’s complaint comes after a New York Times report in December showed how Facebook’s guidebook is riddled with mistakes and is not nimble enough to flesh out important contextual matters. The guidelines censor mainstream speech in one country while allowing extremist language to fester in others, the report notes. (RELATED: Report Details Nature Of Facebook’s Secret Rulebook Governing Global Speech)
Facebook moderators often use Google Translate to determine what is hate speech. They must recall countless rules and apply them to the hundreds of posts a day, with the cultural context largely stripped. They weed through emojis, smiley faces and sometimes innocuous comments to determine what is dangerous and what is not.
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