Google’s Anti-Competitive Ad Policies

Google’s heavy-handed censorship is a sign of the times. Mile High Evening News attempted to run a basic Google advertisement to let people know about the website. We were very careful not to place anything remotely controversial in the advertisement copy, as we figured Google might (just like Facebook) have some sort of restrictions in place concerning current events like the election and the coronavirus. Of course, they do.

Google’s Sensitive Events Policy:

Sensitive events

The following is not allowed:

 Ads that potentially profit from or exploit a sensitive event with significant social, cultural, or political impact, such as civil emergencies, natural disasters, public health emergencies, terrorism and related activities, conflict, or mass acts of violence

Examples (non-exhaustive): Appearing to profit from a tragic event with no discernible benefit to users; price gouging or artificially inflating prices that prohibits/restricts access to vital supplies; sale of products or services  which may be insufficient for the demand during a sensitive event; using keywords related to a sensitive event to attempt to drive additional traffic

 Ads that claim victims of a sensitive event were responsible for their own tragedy or similar instances of victim blaming; ads that claim victims of a sensitive event are not deserving of remedy or support

Examples (non-exhaustive): Ads which claim victims from certain countries were responsible or deserving of a global public health crisis

Here are the headlines that Mile High Evening News was planning on running in the advertisement:

None of these headlines even comes close to exploiting a current event. In fact, they are pretty standard lines used by many news and media companies in their advertisements. Google is simply punishing little outlets like us, and a Google search for “news” or anything similar simply returns Google’s preferred establishment media sources. Advertising, of course, is a primary way for smaller papers, websites, and bloggers to have their voices heard in the sea of giant, multinational media conglomerates like ABC/Disney, CBS/Viacom, and NBC/Comcast. Our voices seem to not matter to big tech.

We have appealed the decision, but we don’t expect Google to care what we think. This is why it is critical that you sign up for email lists from trusted voices, bookmark their websites, and follow them on alternative social media platforms – among many other ways you can dodge this kind of big tech censorship.