I & I Editorial BoardWe aren’t paranoid here at I&I, but something strange just happened.
After we called out Google’s AdSense network for labeling an editorial we wrote about heat waves and climate change “unreliable and harmful” — “Google Doesn’t Want You To Know The Truth About Heat Waves And ‘Climate Change’” — we suddenly found that it was blocking ads on 19 more articles for various alleged violations of its hopelessly vague content guidelines.
On any given day, there are only 15 or so total in the AdSense dog house, so this was a huge leap all at once.
Many of the articles were on the subject of climate change, but Google also decided to block its ads from appearing on one of our own I&I/TIPP poll stories (which it bizarrely claims contained “unreliable and harmful” content), as well as an article that was favorable to Donald Trump (also for “unreliable and harmful” content — because apparently saying anything nice about Trump is by definition unreliable and harmful). It added editorials about EVs, COVID mandates, and, weirdest of all, a “What We’re Reading” article, which is nothing more than links to other news and commentary that we find of interest.
It makes us wonder if one of Google’s minions took umbrage at our criticism of their strong-arm tactics.
Since there is no way — that we know of — to directly contact AdSense and ask, we’re just going to have to assume that this is payback. (If we hear differently from the almighty Google, we will update this.)
Which leads to a question: If Google is so hell-bent on stamping out content it doesn’t like on a little site like ours, what is it doing to big news organizations that actually rely on the tech giant’s ad network for their survival?
— Written by the I&I Editorial Board
It is some irony that the very day you print this article is the very day the US Supreme Court (which should be spelled supreme court) refused to take on some States cases where agencies of the government are actively influencing the social media dictators to do the agencies bidding.
The supreme court refused to look at the cases because apparently the States have no standing. By the time the court recognizes that the State’s do have standing, the court won’t have any standing in that social media arena which will have become more powerful than the US Supreme Court.
Anyway, regarding the issue I&I writes about, Google is a private company (unless they are into something I don’t know about), so they can do as they want).
But they are also using the internet (which, I believe, is regulated by the government) to flout the 1st Amendment. So if Google lets its employees act in a way that is not amicable to the First Amendment, can’t Google be punished? After all, it is knowingly employing employees who are acting in a way that is detrimental to free speech.
Although I do use Google when I want answers to question I have. And it is a good convenient internet encyclopedia-as long as you stay away from political subjects, like global warming and climate change. There never seems to be right-wing alternative opinions as far as Google is concerned.
I don’t understand why it is against the law for a person to mug you but it is okay if they mug free speech by censoring them? “Yay” to the editors of I&I for recognizing Google’s scolding snubbed-nose hypocrisy.
Someday I hope to meet one of it’s previous employees panhandling. Then I can-happily-snub him/her.
Never forget that Google’s senior executives held an all-hands in-person and video meeting after Trump won in 2016, and promised that they would “make sure this never happens again.”
That’s probably the only promise they’ve ever made that they are actively working to keep.