This week, parents looking for information on their kid’s school newsletter might’ve instead ended up with a ton of dicks in their faces.
Earlier this week, the Google Maps “My Business” link for Cherokee High School in Georgia navigated to porn. People looking for the school on Monday and Tuesday were reportedly navigated to an adult website. A spokesperson for the high school told Gizmodo in an email that they contacted Google and resolved the issue on Tuesday.
Currently Cherokee high school’s website brings you to RedTube the porn site lmaooooooooo
— La SkyeWalker (@LaurianaSkye) February 5, 2018
The issue was reported to Google via its Local Guides Connect forum, and a moderator said they were escalating the issue internally, and it was soon marked as resolved.
According to the Cherokee High School spokesperson, this wasn’t a “hack” or “hijack.” Someone just changed the school’s business profile on Google Maps without the school district’s permission. The spokesperson did not respond for comment when asked what porn site people were being sent to, but an Instagram story from GAFollowers, obtained by Cherokee Tribune and Ledger News, indicates that people were being navigated to RedTube.
The spokesperson noted that the link for the high school was correct if you searched through the main Google search engine or any other search engine – the issue was isolated to the Maps business profile. Google did not immediately respond to our request for comment.
The school district police and Cherokee Sheriff’s Office are investigating who was responsible for changing the link and whether those involved will be disciplined.
“I would think that somebody hacked in just … because they want to let the children of the school see something they should not be looking at,” Kathy Law, a parent, told WSB-TV 2. “This is part of the reason we keep our kids homeschooled it’s just to try to protect them a little bit.”