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How Google "AdSense" Censors the News
How Google AdSense Censors the News
The Internet's largest ad network won't support sites that show what happened at Abu Ghraibbut company reps say they're only enforcing the rules.If your site has content which you wouldnt be comfortable viewing at work or with family members around, then it probably isnt an appropriate site for Google ads, according to Googles guidance for Adult Content.
But family-friendly is a vague standard that can lead to poor, context-free judgements about content, as some publishers, including The American Conservative, suspect after recent brushes against those Terms and Conditions.
Daniel McCarthy, editor of The American Conservative, says that in January, Google AdSense asked that its ads be removed from a January 2012 story featuring a commentary by this author that included a photograph of U.S. soldiers urinating on Afghan corpses, as well as a photograph of abuses that had occurred at the Abu Ghraib prison during the Iraq War (specifically, the infamous photo of Pfc. Lynndie England dragging an Iraqi by a leash).
Because ads are displayed on our site according to a general template, the only way we could satisfy Googles demand was by removing AdSense from all of our article pages, McCarthy explained, adding that We still feature AdSense on our homepage and blogs, for now. How much longer may depend on just how indiscriminately Google enforces its rules.
Theres a chilling effect here, McCarthy says, getting to the heart of journalists obligation to report the news, including disturbing images that the public needs to see. A corporate gatekeeper that treats news like offensive or adult content risks stifling free speech.
Advertisers have always been free to withdraw support from a news organization when theyre embarrassed by its reporting, but Google is more than just an advertiser: AdSense is the Internets largest advertising network, and the only reason its the Internets largest ad network is because of Googles market power as a provider of search engine and other services integral to most Americans web use, says McCarthy.
So when Google imposes restraints upon what news organization can report, its not acting like an auto manufacturer that withdraws advertising from 60 Minutes in retaliation for an expose. Its more akin to CBS itself telling the news program that it cant report anything that wouldnt be suitable for childrens television.
Google as an Internet gatekeeper is no fantasy. Since its founding as a scrappy start-up amid the tech boom of 1998, it has grown to dominate the online ad and search markets. The company has drawn the attention of regulators, who want to rein in what they see as monopolistic behavior. Google in turn has spent millions of dollars a year lobbying Congress. Not all of that spending has been purely self-interested, however: the Internet giant, whose motto has long been Dont be evil, has weighed in against what it calls unnecessary government surveillance on the net, and the company is aware of the censorship risks that overly broad regulations can pose.
----snip---------
For the last 70 years, entire generations have been educated about and sensitized to the horrors of the Holocaust with photography. Consider what will be lost in our mission to never forget if scenes like this are deemed unfit to appear on ad-supported sites.
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http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article41436.htm
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