Google demands that Naked Capitalism censors their content. What could possibly go wrong with megacorps acting as arbitrary censors of content without any accountability.
Google demands that Naked Capitalism censors their content. What could possibly go wrong with megacorps acting as arbitrary censors of content without any accountability.
Google trying to censor our content on bogus grounds.
The communication suggests this is coming from Google AdSense which is the publisher advertising side of things, informing the site admin that their site contains content that will likely result in them being removed from being eligible to sell ad slots to advertisers on their network.
Whether or not the assessment of individual flags are correct is another discussion (of which I genuinely don’t care and don’t have time to look into), but it is perfectly normal and acceptable for ad exchanges, Google AdSense in this case, to inform publishers that they’re about to lose out on profit potential because their content is not in compliance with what the advertisers are expecting from the exchange.
Google AdSense could just as easily immediately kick the publisher from the program, at which point they’d no longer be eligible to sell ads through AdSense, but their content will continue to remain online. No censorship is taking place here.
Adtech has been controlling the Overton Window too long. That's what fueled the rise of (actual) fake news, as originally observed coming from Estonia, radicalizing dumb Americans.
https://www.canadaland.com/podcast/774-the-ad-money-fuelling-fake-news/
I don't think there's anything normal or acceptable about a private entity acting as a gatekeepr to the internet and deciding what content people can see based on their own opaque reasons.
This is the second filter in Herman & Chomsky’s propaganda model: Advertising
I wonder what VIOLENT_EXTREMISM and HATEFUL_CONTENT this watchdog of the financial sector is being accused of.
They're removing ads from the site based on content standards they have agreed to with the advertisers. They're not censoring anything and have only notified you of the changes you would need to make if you want to keep their business. You are not owed revenue from Google or anyone else.
Is it a problem that so much of the Internet, including your site, "depends" on corporate advertising? Yes. Is that censorship? No. You are free to find your own sponsors.
You're describing the motivations for the said censorship, but that does not change the fact that it is censorship done by a private entity that's not accountable to the public.
If nakedcapitalism.com censors themselves for money that's their own problem.
This is about hate speech and vaccine disninformation: Arbitrary my ass!
This also has to do with advertising: Censorship my ass!
It is very much arbitrary since Google, which is a private entity, gets to decide what content they censor and why without any transparency or accountability to the public. If you can't understand why this is problematic, then what else is there to say. And this is literally what censorship is, whether you think it's done for good or bad reasons is an entirely different discussion.
Freedom of speech means that the government shouldn't arbitrarily keep you from expressing yourself in the way you see fit.
Censorship happens when the government supresses certain forms of expression.
Neither of these situations apply to this case. Google - as a non-governmental entity - can freely decide where to advertise and where not to advertise. And nakedcapitalism can freely decide if they wish to continue publishing certain content without Google or stay with Google Ads under their terms and conditions. No one is forcing either side to do anything.
Would you have the government intervene and force Google to advertise on a site they disagree with? Now that would be arbitrary
The supposedly anti-vaccination pages in question:
- https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2022/06/blowback-for-the-twenty-first-century-remembering-chalmers-johnson.html
- https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2023/01/links-1-6-2023.html
- https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2023/05/links-5-4-2023.html
- https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2023/07/the-candidacy-and-claims-of-rfk-jr.html