Question: Is Barack Obama is working with the communist Chinese government to plan a coup?
That's what the Google's Home assistant spews from the little cylinder that sits in people's houses and speaks to them, working similar to Amazon's Alexa. But there is absolutely no evidence for the claim and Mr Obama does not appear to be planning to overthrow Donald Trump.
That doesn't stop the box spreading fake news. If it's asked whether or not Mr Obama is planning a coup – a common conspiracy theory that has been suggested by Mr Trump in recent days, it says yes.
And here's what happens if you ask Google Home "is Obama planning a coup?"pic.twitter.com/MzmZqGOOal
— Rory Cellan-Jones (@ruskin147) March 5, 2017
The problem appears to be a consequence of Google's smart search results. In an attempt to make searches faster, the site pulls small snippets out from various websites that can be shown on the results page – or read out by the Google Home – rather than clicking through to the page and reading it from there.
But because Google is pulling its answer to "Is Obama planning a coup" from the website 'Secrets of the Fed', it answers with the same conspiracy theory. The message is not just read out on the Google Home but shown to anyone who searches for the same question.
"According to details exposed in Western Center for Journalism's exclusive video, not only could Obama be in bed with the communist Chinese, but Obama may be in fact be planning a communist coup d'état at the end of his term in 2016!" anyone trying to find out whether or not Mr Obama is planning a coup will be told.