I & I Editorial BoardThe other day we received a notice from Google’s AdSense ad network that one of our articles violated its policies and, as a result, they wouldn’t allow any of their network’s ads to appear on that article until we “fixed” the violation.
What was the violation? According to Google, the article contained “unreliable and harmful information.” What does that mean? Dig deeper and here’s how Google describes this particular violation:
“We do not allow content that:
- makes claims that are demonstrably false and could significantly undermine participation or trust in an electoral or democratic process.
- promotes harmful health claims or relates to a current, major health crisis and contradicts authoritative scientific consensus.
- contradicts authoritative scientific consensus on climate change.”
Previously, we noted in this space that Google had stripped ads from two of our editorials about global warming, and we pointed out that this was likely part of a new post-COVID censorship campaign by the left.
But this new article wasn’t about climate change. It wasn’t about COVID. It also wasn’t about election fraud. It wasn’t about the Jan. 6 riots. It wasn’t about anything controversial.
It was an article about the results of our own monthly I&I/TIPP poll, which asked registered voters “who do you want to see run for president in 2024.” We broke out the findings by party affiliation, and reported on the results. Which were that while 60% of Republicans wanted Donald Trump to run in 2024, a mere 37% of Democrats wanted President Joe Biden to be on the ticket. Mind you, TIPP is a highly regarded polling firm that has been the most accurate in every presidential election since it started doing that polling.
The leftists running Google might not understand this, but poll results like that are what we in the news business call “news.” And reporting on news is what journalists do. The article even includes a chart showing details of the results of this poll, letting Google’s content police see for themselves that our reporting was accurate.
Since nothing in the article was “demonstrably false,” that leaves the accusation that the article “could significantly undermine participation or trust in an electoral or democratic process.”
That standard is so vague that it could justify demonetizing literally anything. But judge for yourself. If you can find anything in this article that would lead any reasonable person to conclude that we are attempting to undermine trust or participation in democracy and elections, let us know. You can find the article here.
Yet when we asked Google to review its ruling, they rejected our appeal. Which means the “violation” wasn’t just the result of an algorithm gone haywire.
RELATED: To see all of our I&I/TIPP Poll stories, click here.
The only conclusion we can draw is that Google is now attacking content for no other reason than that it doesn’t like the facts being reported. By stripping ads from this article, Google is not only unfairly costing us money, it’s sending a message that if we want to work with AdSense we have to kowtow to their leftist standards. How many sites that depend more heavily on Google for revenue will start to think twice about offending the liberal Google gods?
So, kudos, Google. You’ve just taken another step towards acting like a totalitarian dictator. Remind us again of what that motto was you used to parade around. Be evil? Be like Stalin? Help us out here.
Meanwhile, we can’t wait until you accuse this article of violating your idiotic standard for acceptable content. Go ahead, make our day.
— Written by the I&I Editorial Board
Matt Taibbi
Using these vague “policy violations,” Google is now threatening to demonetize us. It’s part of Big Tech’s effort to silence conservative voices.
“The leftists running Google” understand full well that the poll is “news,” but they do not like the “news” that your poll is reporting. Step One in changing your reporting of the news is de-monetizing, to try to get you to spin the news to their desired narrative (consistent with Democrat party propaganda). Step Two is de-platforming or cancellation (more complete censorship), which is already widespread. Russia had the right idea, cancelling Google and their big-tech & social media allies. There is no reasoning with big tech or social media censorship. They cannot be voted out or removed from office. They are dictators that cannot be purged. Their goal is imposing a totalitarian state with their brand of ideological correctness (the Democrat party line). This is how life works in a totalitarian state, which the Democrat party is imposing via varied and diverse means. I am sure if Trump runs in 2024, all the polls showing him doing well will be banned or cancelled by the high-tech and social media oligarchs. Since the media-tech oligarchs already permanently cancelled Trump’s freedom of expression/speech, I wonder if they will even allow reporting on his campaign. The Free World is no longer Free. The USA needs to correct its own erosion of freedom, before going to war over loss of freedom elsewhere.
BTW: I got the message “Page not found” when I clicked on the I&I email titled “[New post] I&I/TIPP Poll: 65% Say Recent Lifting Of COVID Restrictions Is Driven By ‘Politics,’ Not ‘Science’” So, I guess Google was successful in getting the article reporting the poll scrubbed from public view. A Triumph for the Censorship State. A Loss for Freedom.
Unfortunately, we can’t blame Google for that “page not found” error. That was a technical glitch on our end.
It is worth comparing freedom of information in Russia , a less than “democratic “state at war, with the USA, under a liberal Democratic government. Putin has ordered “misinformation ” to be criminalised, with fines or prison for spreading such. When at war, many states do control information.
Biden ordered his lackeys–social media moguls, and the msn, to clamp down on “misinformation”, having mocked POTUS 45 for accusing this same media of “fake news”.
In both cases “misinformation ” refers to any opinion or facts which counter the official version according to the gospel of the leader.
Remember the 2020 election when facts which may have influenced voters were concealed or suspended ? Eg. Hunter Biden’s laptop, Joe Bidens’s less than satisfactory cognitive function.
One has to wonder how free is the ” Free West ” ? Is it another delusion ?
It’s time to stop calling Google evil. Instead of calling things evil, call them ‘Google’. “How horrible. That is so google!” It even sounds ghoulish.
That’s a good one!
I loath the using the hammer of big government but only one giant can fight against another. I hope for the day when Big Government defeats Big Techs like Google are regulates them like public utilities.
Ya, there is a massive censorship campaign going on right now – been hit by it on YouTube, Yahoo, and so on for comments like:
“Your comment has been rejected.
Replied toGeorge 4h ago
Don’t care for Trump – but if you’re trying to measure between him and Biden (and the DP), I’d take Trump and the GOP any day as your side of the aisle is just visibily making daily life here worse for everyone. And looking at polling, it appears I’m not the only one – the American populace is suffering a helluva case of buyer’s remorse.”
and
“Your comment has been rejected.
Replied towallstwise_05 19h ago
Yes. Biden voters deserve every bit of disdain directed their way. I’m not a Trump-suppoter either but it was blatantly obvious that of the two choices, the Democratic Party was clearly the worse. Setting aside the stark authoritarianism drowning in identity politics nuttery (that has them trying to silence and punish dissent), you can see the results of their governance in the dismal state of the places they rule (they’ve turned national treasures like SanFran into a literal public toilet – the crime, the poverty, the high cost of living, the general decay of almost everywhere they control). I chuckled at an article here on Yahoo today about how Amazon is “temporarily” moving all their employees out of their offices in Seattle due to “dangerous work conditions” (violent crime).”
These just a couple from Yahoo, YouTube they just disappear.
The ones calling me names “Racist!”, “Fascist!”, whatever (the usual dumb things left-wingers say when confronted by dissent against their views) are all there though.
Most Leftists ‘fact checkers’ are basement dwelling losers who can’t get dates with real girls. This article also serves to remind that, were it not for the double standard, Democrats would have no standards at all.
We’re not worried because the Gods are going to destroy California, and whatever’s left over will fumigated by America. The United States of America has a long life ahead of it still, even though a mighty purge of the Evil Elites is about to take place.
Ask your local city / county DA to file fraud charges against the obviously self-rule violating entity defrauding you of revenue. You may have agreed to TOS requiring arbitration, etc but a DA can do what it wants regarding the law when someone files a complaint.
I would not be surprised if Google and Zuckerberg combined to eliminate the republic message in 2022, and replaced it with inflammatory lies. Then in 2024, create an “alternate election” with a hand picked phony third party with Republicans having no messaging at all.
So far, it would be legal.