Google has apologized for Michelle Obama’s offensively altered picture, which tops the Google Image search results when users search for her images; but, it has refused to remove the image from its site.

The contentious picture of the US first lady has been posted without any explanation on the ‘Hot Girls’ blog, and shows her as having monkey-like features. The site also features some unaltered photographs of Obama.

Despite the protests that the portrayal is both racist as well as abhorrent, Google has maintained that web pages are removed from its process only if the content is illegal or if it breaches the company's webmaster guidelines.

Noting that the guidelines do not pertain to pictorial depictions of this type, Google spokesman Scott Rubin said on Tuesday that the fact that many people are finding the picture “offensive” is no grounds for removing it. Rubin added: “We have, in general, a bias toward free speech.”

However, taking not of the protests against the picture, Google has put a notice over it titled “Offensive Search Results,” adding: “Sometimes our search results can be offensive. We agree.”

Meanwhile, about the picture reaching the top of the results, David Vise, a Pulitzer prize-winning journalist and author of The Google Story, informed the BBC that it is popularity of the content that takes it to the top, and not any ranking system used by the search engine.