Google Images Hacked? Searches Bring Up Images of Russian Car Accident

Updated 2:14 p.m.

People searching Google Images Tuesday morning noticed an apparent glitch in the system: Innocuous searches were resulting in repeated images of a car accident, alongside intermittent pictures of NBA star Kevin Durant.

Here’s what happened as of 9 a.m. when we Googled the word “puppy”:

Numerous social media reports claim that the issue was ongoing for hours:

A Google spokesperson said Tuesday afternoon the issue had been fixed, but did not clarify the root of the problem.

Concerned searchers on Google’s own support forums traced the jarring image of the car accident to a Ukrainian news site reporting on a deadly crash that took the lives of three people (warning: the site features some grislier images of the wreck).

Some users on a related Reddit chain say that images of Kevin Durant have also been thrown in the mix. Canadian Redditor Acrantrad posted the following image that appears after unrelated Google Image searches.

People on Google’s product forum claim that South America has been impacted, as well.