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http://www.breitbart.com)
Google has recently decided to cancel
WorldNetDaily's (WND) Adsense account after the conservative-leaning news site published an honest report on mobs of teenagers roaming streets and taking part in the so-called "Knockout Game." According to Google, reports on the subject violated the company's negative/hate speech policy with multiple references to "black mobs." The problem with this "hate speech" violation, though, is that it was not actual hate speech but fearless reporting on a social issue being experienced more prevalently in a particular demographic.
Joseph Farah, the Editor-in-Chief of WND, learned about their account's cancelation through an email from Google, which said that it was due to "a policy violation email this morning regarding negative/hate speech particularly with the repeated references to 'black mobs,' although I don't know that this is specifically what it's limited to." The email went on to state, "The reviewers cited a number articles [sic] with usage of this term specifically and in general asks that no ad code is placed on articles containing hate/anti or sensitive content as this is against Adsense policies and does not provide a good experience for users and advertisers."
The Knockout Game, as many should remember, was where mobs of teenagers wandered city streets, looking for defenseless victims, mostly white and Jewish people, to attempt to knock out with one punch to the back of the head. Elderly persons were also often the victims, and deaths from such incidents have been reported. The controversy on reporting these hateful, deadly attacks comes from the fact that most of the attackers have been black. Logically then, in this specific case, mobs of teenagers who are black would technically be black mobs, simply because they happen to be black. Mentioning that is no more racist than reporting that victims have frequently been white or Jewish. It is simply a fact in the incident determined by its very perpetrators.
Despite this, it's not really surprising to see Google attempt to censor such viewpoints, as noted by Ben Shapiro for
Breitbart News: "Google has long been a leftist company. Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of the company, is a heavy supporter of President Obama financially, helping him with campaign advice in 2008 and 2012; Obama reportedly considered him repeatedly for slots within his administration before Schmidt was picked as Obama's transition advisory board, as well as for a position on the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, or PCAST. Obama's campaign manager, Jim Messina, received personal training from Schmidt. So did Obama for America Chief Technology Officer Harper Reed and Engineer Mark Trammell."
Google's famous doodles are usually political as well; while they specifically avoid honoring national Christian holidays, such as Christmas and Easter, they do make sure to recognize progressive icons like Martin Luther King Jr., Jackie Robinson and Cesar Chavez (who do deserve their fair amount of recognition). Google was also once in favor of net neutrality, a policy that would have the government require "non-discrimination" with regard to bandwidth use for internet service providers; however, the company became an opponent of net neutrality after entering the broadband business with its GoogleFiber.
"Google is a private company," Shapiro concludes. "It has the capacity to utilize its massive power for whatever political agenda it chooses. But for it to pretend to be an advocate for internet freedom while simultaneously disadvantaging messages it finds politically incorrect is deeply hypocritical."
