Shortly after we ran a review of the first Republican primary debate, Google’s ad network, called AdSense, blocked its ads from appearing on that page. It said the piece, written by veteran communications specialist Bob Maistros, violated two of Google’s content rules because it contained “dangerous or derogatory content” and “unreliable and harmful claims.”
These are impossibly vague standards, and while Google tells us we must “fix” the article in order for its ads to appear on that page, it provided no indication of what exactly violated either of these rules or what would constitute a fix. You be the judge: “Guv Ron’s Great Republican Comeback.”
It’s as though Google’s thought police read Kafka and concluded that he was writing instruction manuals instead of warnings about mindless bureaucratic authoritarianism.
For the record, here’s how Google defines these two offenses.
Dangerous or derogatory content
We do not allow content that:
- incites hatred against, promotes discrimination of, or disparages an individual or group on the basis of their race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, age, nationality, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or other characteristic that is associated with systemic discrimination or marginalization.
- harasses, intimidates, or bullies an individual or group of individuals.
- threatens or advocates for harm to oneself or others.
- relates to a current, major health crisis and contradicts authoritative, scientific consensus.
- exploits others through extortion.
Unreliable and harmful claims
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.
This isn’t the only article on our site that Google is currently demonetizing. At any given time there are a dozen or more that it’s withholding ads from. Below is a screenshot of the current list of offending articles.
We’ve noticed that the offending articles fall into three broad categories: election fraud, global warming, and anything that makes the left look bad.
Discussing Election Fraud
According to Google, publishing articles that challenge the validity of the 2020 elections is impermissible. Which makes us wonder if the company has similarly demonetized articles and videos of Democrats challenging election outcomes.
One of them, also penned by Maistros, looked at the recent Trump indictments through the lens of election fraud. “What The Trump Indictments Are Really All About (Hint: Not What You Think)”
Google sometimes goes back more than two years to pull its ads, as it just did from this December 2020 piece. “Key Trump Adviser Peter Navarro Confirms Democrat Ballot Fraud.”
Google even claims an article citing data from a research study on election peculiarities in 2020 contains “unreliable and harmful claims.” “Trump Indicted for Citing Data From Ph.D.-Vetted Study On Election Fraud”
But what really kills us is when Google slaps the “unreliable and harmful” label when we report on our own I&I/TIPP poll, which it has done before. Now it’s blocking its ads from appearing on the poll showing that Trump’s support increased after the three indictments. “Even After Three Indictments, Trump Support Rises: I&I/TIPP Poll”
How, we wonder, are we supposed to “fix” that to Google’s satisfaction? Change the results?
Exposing Climate Fraud
Google also doesn’t like anyone challenging the “consensus” on climate change. Which is why everything we write exposing the cracks in climate change “science,” the lies and scaremongering by alarmists, or the ultimate goal of the “climate change” crowd, gets demonetized.
This is simply an extension of the left’s censorship efforts during COVID, where anything that didn’t toe the corporatist, leftist line was censored, often with the aid of Big Government. We have pointed out the parallels between the lockdowns and mandates imposed under the guise of the COVID public health emergency and how the left saw these as a prelude to even more draconian (and never-ending) controls under a “climate emergency.”
To Google, such discussions are verboten.
Here are six climate-related editorials of ours that Google is currently demonetizing.
- “Climate Emergency? What A Crock, Part 2”
- “The Climate Crisis … Of 536 AD”
- “1.5 Degrees Of Climate Fabrication”
- “Are We Just One Big Storm Away Climate Lockdowns?“
- “Democrats Are Now Begging Biden To Act Like A Dictator.”
- “That Dirty Green Energy“
Making the Left Look Bad
One article on Google’s hit list shows just how far it will go to silence dissent. It’s one of our “What We’re Reading” columns, which is simply a list of links to other articles that we found of interest, but which Google says contains “dangerous or derogatory content.”
Keep in mind that this particular edition of “What We’re Reading” includes links to the BBC, Politico, Axios, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, Straight Arrow News, as well as several established conservative news outlets.
We’ve learned that Google will demonetize a page if it doesn’t like reader comments that appear there. But there are no reader comments on this page.
So what are we supposed to “fix”? The subheads? (“Election 2024,” “Hawaii Disaster,” “Biden Scandal,” “Biden’s Brain,” “Bidenomics is Working,” “Trans World,” “China,” “Misc,” and “Humor.”)
Is Google now demonetizing pages because it doesn’t like what those pages link to? We included a link to an article about detransitioners. Does Google want us to strip that? It won’t say.
But given that Google’s search algorithm uses links to determine the relevancy of search results, is this how the search giant is gaming its search results? By convincing sites not to link to certain content, lest they lose a valuable source of revenue?
Attacking A Refugee Of Castro’s Tyranny
But the most insulting and infuriating attack on us is Google’s habit of stripping ads from a regular guest contributor, Armando Simón.
Armando’s writing style is certainly not for everyone. He can be abrasive. He says what he means. But his views are valuable, not just because he’s insightful, thinks outside of every box we can imagine, and is an extremely talented and widely published author.
He also has experiences that few others – and none of the pusillanimous punks at Google – have. He grew up in Castro’s Cuba. In other words, he has first-hand knowledge of where leftist ideas will take the country – into totalitarian hellscapes. The fact that Google is actively trying to use its technological dominance to import this kind of tyranny into the U.S. is frightening.
The latest of Armando’s to land on Google’s hit list is, ironically enough, one that explores how it is the left has become just as close-minded and ideologically rigid as those who refused to look through Galileo’s telescope for fear of seeing a truth they didn’t want to believe. “Today’s Leftists Would Refuse To Look Through Galileo’s Telescope”
Google says that one contains both “unreliable and harmful claims” and dangerous or “derogatory content.”
An Invitation To Our Readers
We invite our readers to look at all the articles currently on Google’s hit list (linked to above). If you can find an example of something that violates the content rules as Google describes them, please let us know.
Otherwise, tell Google what it can do with its “content rules.” Any way you can. Early and often. And always remember that David beat Goliath with a slingshot.
— Written by the I&I Editorial Board
Addendum:
As readers of this site might already know, Google is threatening to block its ads from appearing anywhere on our site because we’ve had too many “violations.” Just today we received this ominous notice:
We long ago stripped all but one of our Google ad spots on our site after these constant threats. For the time being, there are still choices of ad networks besides Google’s. But we keep one Google ad spot anchored at the very bottom of the page just so we can keep tabs on how Google is working to silence dissent.
Here are some previous articles we’ve written about the tech giant’s censorship campaign.
- “Google Targets 2-Time Pulitzer Prize-Winning Cartoonist”
- “Google Attacks Us For Reporting On Our Own Poll — Calls It ‘Harmful lnformation’”
- “Google Just Declared War On The Most Accurate Pollster In America — And On Most Americans”
- “Let’s ‘Demonetize’ NBC News And Google”
- “Get Tomorrow’s Disinformation Today!”
P.S.: If you want to support us directly, here’s a way to do so.
Using these vague “policy violations,” Google is now threatening to demonetize us. It’s part of Big Tech’s effort to silence conservative voices.
“We do not allow content that:……”
I do not allow content that comes from google!
Goebbels must be laughing as he watches weasels(much like he was) who schill for communism are themselves making tons of money, something communism, socialism, marxism doesn’t allow of course; unless you are part of the politburo. Something all the “useful idiots” just don’t get.
…threatens or advocates for harm to oneself or others.
…relates to a current, major health crisis and contradicts authoritative, scientific consensus.
…promotes harmful health claims or relates to a current, major health crisis and contradicts authoritative scientific consensus.
These three, taken together or individually, should cause Google to censor EVERY article promoting so-called “gender affirming care” given that the SCIENTIFIC consensus on “gender” is that sex is binary (with very few exceptions) and determined at conception. Doctors don’t “guess” what sex a newborn is.
Once Google puts you on their Not Safe For Advertising list, other ad agencies that have contracts with Google (and most do) won’t advertise on your site either. There are a few that are uncoupled from Google, like Decide, but they pay crap (I have a website that got on this list). The list is maintained by third parties that are quite unfriendly to conservatives. You can see an accounting of this at censortrack.org. It’s actually worse than you describe. They have a stranglehold on online ads and push sites like this to the bottom of search results, further demonetizing them.
Google AdSense is a lost cause with respect to monetizing content that the left disagrees with. They simply won’t accept any of it. To them, it’s not merely wrong, but dangerously wrong.
I know several people who work for Google, and that is their firmly-held belief. They think of themselves as being on a mission to redeem society through technology.
It is probably best, therefore, to treat Google AdSense like a religious denomination. Speech contrary to their beliefs aren’t just opinions, they are HERESY. They will never, ever, help fund heretical teachings.
I like how you continue to use the AdSense code to track how they are demonetizing you, but I think you need to move on from a “wow, can you believe they did this?” perspective to one that is more cognizant of how their specific demonetizations outline the contours of their belief system.
I think it is especially useful to chart how those demonetizations change over time. The Left’s belief system, though absolute in effect, is not consistent over time. It didn’t always be the case, for example, that “woman” was an ambiguous term to the Left. Seeing these articles of faith come and go will help us understand the inner dynamics of their thinking.
Google once said: “do no evil”. Since that statement, this company has become the face of evil.
How did a search engine manage to become masters of advertising and payment system. Isn’t there a AntiTrust Issue far worse than the “robber barons” of the late 19th and early 20th centuries here?