Google Maps apologised on Wednesday after it emerged searches using racist language pinpointed the White House, home of President Obama.
The offensive scenario was brought to light after it was noticed searches combining a racial slur and the word "house" took people to the White House in Google's free online mapping service in some locations.
A search on Google Maps late on Wednesday using a variation of the racist phrase resulted in being shown the location of The White House with the description "iconic home of America's president".
It was unclear whether the outcome resulted from a search algorithm being duped or flawed, or was caused by a user taking advantage of editing capabilities intended to improve maps with local knowledge.
"Some inappropriate results are surfacing in Google Maps that should not be, and we apologise for any offence this may have caused," the California-based internet titan said.
"Our teams are working to fix this issue quickly."