Google Sharpens Its Censorship Knives — Labels Trump Praise As ‘Dangerous’
We recently discovered that Google’s ad-serving network is blocking its ads from appearing on a story we published almost exactly three years ago.
Google declared that the article violated its terms of service because it contained “Dangerous or derogatory content,” which it defines as anything 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.
Pretty raunchy stuff, in other words.
So what was the article that it flagged? “Trump’s Top-10 Triumphs: A Last Look At A Remarkable Presidency.”
We are not kidding.
That editorial begins thusly:
President Donald Trump became an ex-president on Wednesday, as Joe Biden was inaugurated as the 46th president of the United States. We wish him nothing but the best. But before we let Trump go, we thought we’d review some of his biggest accomplishments while in office. We call them ‘triumphs,’ because they were all big achievements executed against great odds.
It goes on to say: “Trump’s performance in just four years was nothing short of remarkable. He promulgated dozens, if not hundreds, of successful policies that other presidents talked about, but never secured.” It then lists 10 policy victories:
- Slashed taxes on individuals and businesses.
- Forged peace in the Mideast.
- Created Operation Warp Speed.
- Deregulated the nation’s economy.
- Got rid of Obamacare’s “individual mandate.”
- Restored Supreme Court balance.
- Forced NATO to reform.
- Encouraged U.S. energy independence.
- Reformed immigration and built the border wall.
- Withdrew from the Paris Climate Deal.
We concluded that editorial with what turned out to be a very prescient piece of advice for Biden: “For the new president, a friendly word of advice: Your success or failure in the first year of your term will largely depend on how many of Trump’s successes you let stand, and how many you try to undo.”
There is not a single word of disparagement toward anyone, including Biden, and we defy anyone to find anything in this editorial that even comes close to Google’s “dangerous and derogatory” label.
Among the “dangerous and derogatory” material that Google prohibits is any content that challenges the accepted wisdom around COVID, or as the tech giant puts it, content that “relates to a current, major health crisis and contradicts authoritative, scientific consensus.”
Google has used that definition to justify demonetizing our editorials attacking COVID mask mandates, the lockdowns, and other intrusive government mandates — which were contrary to the “scientific consensus” but turned out to be correct.
But the only reference to COVID in that editorial was to praise Trump for accelerating the development of COVID vaccines, a success that the “authoritative, scientific consensus” said would never happen. As we noted: “The vaccine critics were dead wrong, and Trump’s push may well end up saving hundreds of thousands of lives in coming years.”
Even in the comments section, most either agreed or said we missed policy successes. One complained that we wished Biden well.
Does Google now consider praising Trump as inciting hatred, bullying, advocating harm or extorting?
Our guess is that the answer to this question is yes. Anything to keep him out of office again. But we’ll never know, because Google’s Goebbels never responds to requests for more information.
Comments are closed.
