An image of a Russian car crash has piled up in Google Images, regardless of what users search for. Time magazine searched for 'puppy'' and instead saw multiple images of the crash - leading to speculation that the service has been hacked. What’s less clear is why, or who might have done it.
One user says that regardless of what he searches for, he sees dozens of images of the same car crash, “Every time I search something in Google images, these creepy images are appearing. It's apparently a crashed truck or something, but I didn't look it up. People could say that it had something to do with what I was searching, but if I click on it, a different image appears. I have some screenshots attached.”
Google Images: 'Creepy images appearing'
The issue is not affecting all users, but Google product forums are full of complaints about the image, which shows a fatal car crash from several years ago.
Time magazine reports that the images vary - Google’s own support forums tracked back and found the image came from a report on a Ukrainian news site. We've not linked to the report as it contains many more grisly images of the crash.
Time also reported that a related Reddit chain say that images of basketball player and occasional actor Kevin Durant have also been reported by some user.
Hours of glitches
Jalopnik says, “In the meantime, Reddit user anvile noticed that the original photos stem from a story about a car crash in Moscow that killed three people. The driver, a 28-year-old woman, was reported to be intoxicated."
“Weirder still, the crash occurred in November of 2012, according to this Pravda article, so it isn't recent.”
Google has as yet not offered comment on the images, or their origin.
