White Rose Society Censored by Google...

[benburch]

Hi folks!

As most of you know, I run the White Rose Society web page, a daily archive of Liberal and Progressive talk shows at http://www.WhiteRoseSociety.org/

Recently, I signed up for "Google Adwords", an advertising program run by Google in order to better spread the word about my site.

Well, today, I received the following note from Google;


Hello David,

Thank you for advertising with Google AdWords. After reviewing your
account, I have found that one or more of your ads or keywords does not
meet our guidelines. The results are outlined in the report below.

----------------------------------------------
Campaign: 'Campaign #1,' Ad Group: 'White Rose Society Website'
----------------------------------------------

AD TEXT:

Liberal Talk Radio Lives
Liberal/Progressive Talk Radio
audio archives! 24/7, MP3 format
www.WhiteRoseSociety.org

Action taken: Suspended - Pending Revision
Issue(s): Unacceptable Content
~~~~~~~~~

KEYWORD(S): Impeach Bush, Impeach Bush

Action taken: Disapproved
Issue(s): Unacceptable content as keyword
~~~~~~~~~

SUGGESTIONS:
-> Content: At this time, Google policy does not permit the
advertisement of websites that contain "language that advocates against
an individual, group, or organization", "the solicitation of funds and
do not display tax-exempt status". As noted in our advertising terms
and conditions, we reserve the right to exercise editorial discretion
when it comes to the advertising we accept on our site.

-> Keywords: Google policy does not permit the advertisement
of "language that advocates against an individual, group, or
organization". This content is not permitted as ad text or keywords. We
have therefore disabled the keyword(s) listed above.


---------------------
Please read below for definitions of the issues I found:

Unacceptable Content: Google believes strongly in freedom of expression
and therefore offers broad access to content across the web without
censoring search results. Please note that the decisions we make
concerning advertising in no way affect the search results we deliver.

Unacceptable content as keyword: In keeping with Google policy, we do
not permit advertisers to use certain content as keywords for their
Google AdWords campaigns. Google believes strongly in freedom of
expression and therefore offers broad access to content across the web
without censoring search results. Please note that the decisions we
make concerning advertising in no way affect the search results we
deliver.


---------------------

If a keyword has been disapproved, your ad(s) will no longer be
displayed for searches on this keyword.

If an ad has been suspended, please edit it based on our suggestions,
and then save your changes to automatically resubmit the ad for review.
We're confident that these changes will improve your ad performance and
increase your return on investment.

Our goal is to help you reach your target audience and maximize your
investment. All ads are reviewed by AdWords Specialists to ensure that
our advertisers create successful, high-impact advertising in keeping
with our program’s Editorial Guidelines.

For more information about our ad requirements, please read the AdWords
Editorial Guidelines at:
https://adwords.google.com/select/guidelines.html

Please feel free to email us at [e-mail] if you have
any further questions or concerns. We look forward to providing you
with the most effective advertising available.

Sincerely,

The Google AdWords Team


Am I overreacting, or is this a really big issue when it comes from the No. 1 search engine group on the Internet?

-Ben Burch
White Rose Society Webmaster
http://www.WhiteRoseSociety.org/
[e-mail]

[Swede]

1. Smells like censorship.

[Room101]

8. They regard "Impeach Bush" as Unacceptable content ?

I think they have taken INDYMEDIA off of Google also. What is going on here? I see red flags here, who owns Google? You are not overreacting this smells of fascism, I’m sure that they allow right wing hate sites meaning google might be owned by right wing interest.

[benburch]

9. Note this is for Adwords Only...

White Rose is still in its normal place in the Google search rankings. But they zotzed my ads.

[raysr]

12. Indy still there

[i have issues]

2. That sucks!!

I use your site daily to hear archived Mike shows so I can fast forward through the commercials.... What can I do? I'll make a donation as soon as I get settled in my new place! (about 2 weeks) Grrrrrr, that makes me mad.

[benburch]

3. Sorry for the duplicates!

Moderators;

This message got posted several times; My browser kept giving me error messages, and I thought the message hadn't gone through!

I renamed the others to "delete me".

Please excuse the screw-up!

-Ben

[Deja Q]

4. They recently changed their policies anyway...

giving preferences to the bigger corporations who could afford to pay more per click anyway.

That aside, what you've posted sounds like a two-faced approach. They support freedom of speech and all the lip, but they'll still restrict sites based on criteria THEY feel is unacceptable. I WOULD question them on that.

[Eric J in MN]

5. Does your website ask for donations?

Does your website ask for donations?

If so, would they accept your business if it didn't?

[benburch]

6. Yes, I do ask for donations...

I do ask for donations. I perhaps was not clear that they were NOT tax exempt, though I assumed people knew that, as places that ARE tax exempt make a big deal about this point... (I have made a note of this on the page now.)

[Eric J in MN]

10. maybe if you compromise a little

Maybe if you compromise a little by telling them that you now have a notice about the donation status, and you make the phrase "impeach Bush" less prominent, you can work it out.

[benburch]

11. I'm planning to do that...

... though it sticks in my craw!

It is more important to get the word out about the talk radio archive than for me to advocate the impeachment of Bush, but it is not a choice that one ought to have to make.

[SOteric]

15. Well, it seems to me that their only problem is with

the negative impact of "impeach Bush" as keywords. Doesn't mean you can say them, just means you can use them as keywords. And maybe if you could rephrase them in some more positive way, "immediate bringing to account to the fullest extent of the law," for instance.

[not systems]

7. Impeach Bush?

"Google believes strongly in freedom of expression..."

That has got to be the most ironic disclaimer ever.

This is supression of political speech plain and simple.

In other countries we call this suppression of dissent and we
complain about it.

Here you will get people defending it because it is not
the government doing the censorship but a corporation.

Many will claim this is no problem.

They are wrong this one more step in the rise of corporate totalism.

[coralrf]

13. www.impeach-bush-now.org/

Google found that.

www.impeachbushbumperstickers.com/ ...and that....

groups.yahoo.com/group/impeach-bush/ ... snd that plus many others when the phrase "impeach bush" was searched.

?

[sandnsea]

14. impeach clinton is there

Get a lawyer and sue them. Own google. Kick out the corporations. Make it a search engine for us little guys!!!

I made a copy.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=impeach+clinton

[buycitgo]

16. you go, sandnsea!

that was the very first thing that came to mind when I saw this:

what sorts of partisan republican sites, disobeying the very same rubric applied to the above site, enjoy the boost that having a google listing provides?

amazing how far that 'little' engine that sucks has sunk in the last six years.

remember how cool it was when almost nobody knew what it was? when did they split off from Stanford? I think it was still affilitated in 97, wasn't it?

[Eric J in MN]

19. the issue is sponsored search results, not general search results (nt)

nt

[sandnsea]

22. Did you click the link?

Right on the side is two adwords boxes, sponsored results. Gads.

[WilliamPitt]

17. GOOGLE LOVES SKINHEADS

The don't like sites that advocate against others?

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=stormfront

Dig it. White Pride. What bullshit. Show this to them.

[Lithos]

18. Hell show them this

Type in www.cofcc.org into the google box and see the category that comes up.


Council of Conservative Citizens
PO Box 221683 St. Louis, MO 63122-9957. ...
Description: Advocating against minorities and racial integration.
Category: Society > Issues > ... > Supremacy and Separatism > White

[proud patriot]

20. I think that should do the trick

:thumbsup:

[benburch]

24. Yeah, BUT...

... Stormfront isn't running paid ads through Google AdWords, that I am aware of.

That is the difference in these two cases.

-Ben

[proud patriot]

25. ahhh I see

thanks

[bobthedrummer]

30. Good one, Will!

eom

[kispoko]

21. and....

inform them also of the discussions going on now in message boards (but not where, you just know that won't bode well for a place like if not now then sometime in the future) when you present them with what you've found....

if they know others are aware of their backwardness here, they might be a little less reticent to brush you off and perhaps more willing to do more damage control.

[nolabels]

23. I figured the spooks were moving in on google, the NSA guy mentioned.....

This thread is now all the proof needed to fulfill my suspicions. It is interesting keeping track of the goings on of these people, thanks guys. Here is a couple fun threads for somebody who has not seen them

(in this one, some dude from the NSA transfered into google, why can't them guy's hold down real jobs anyway?)
Being Googled
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=17950

We all know the media sucks, but who believes they engage in covert...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=729470

Hugo Chavez - Bush's Nemesis- The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=728987

AP has pulled all the coverage of Gore's speech
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=147357

[benburch]

26. OK, here is what I did...

I changed references to "Impeach Bush" to simply "Impeach". I added a note on the website that donations are NOT tax deductible.

I wrote them the following note;


Hi!

I believe I have made the appropriate modifications. Please advise if you have any further complaints, though I wonder if you have considered that advocating the impeachment of George Bush is part-and-parcel of political free speech in this country. Also, have you considered the negative ramifications to Google of attempting to limit political speech in this fashion? Were this to get out, I am VERY sure that the political opposition in this country would react negatively towards your company as a result.

[fsbooks]

27. White rose comes up #1 for me

on the "sponsored links" if I just input "impeach bush" as the keywords to the google search. So either they changed their mind, or it works anyways.

[benburch]

28. That's because "Impeach Bush" contains "Impeach"

Of course the ad comes up now with "Impeach Nixon" and "Impeach Clinton", which I don't want...

[benburch]

29. Also...

the ad that shows up is a NEW ad text I added to the account after they restricted the first one. Obviously their restriction mechanism does not allow the account to be restricted, just whatever ads were in place at the time. Of course, they could simply cancel the account...

-Ben