Spike in searches causes Google to suggest “James Middleton Gay”
The search engine Google has begun to auto-suggest “James Middleton gay” following a surge in searches on the younger brother of Catherine ‘Kate’, Duchess of Cambridge.
Mr Middleton, who is a cake designer, gave a reading earlier today at the marriage of his sister to Prince William. As soon as he began to speak, hundreds of people asked on Twitter and other social media networks if he is gay. There is no evidence to suggest that he is.
An increase in searches on Google for the term “James Middleton gay” has led to the search engine auto-suggesting the term “James Middleton gay” when a user begins to type his name.
Google’s suggested terms are driven by the volume of people querying a particular term as opposed to an algorithm or editorial involvement by the company. In 2006, the search engine auto-suggested “Ashley Cole gay” when users searched for his name. The spike in traffic relating to Cole coincided with his legal battle with the News of the World that wrongly implied that he was involved in a gay sex incident with a well known DJ.
The social media traffic relating to Mr Middleton today has included users sharing photographs of him partying in one of his sister’s dresses and another dressed as a French maid. A third photograph shows him naked aside from a strategically placed bottle of beer.
The Daily Telegraph reports that last month Mr Middleton posted a photograph on his Facebook page showing “four men, backs to camera, with their trousers around their ankles and bottoms on show standing on a country road called Back Lane.”
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