In 2015, several high-quality online Independent News publishers, which had previously been subsidized by Google-YouTube advertising were suddenly defunded and effectively put out of business. Sites like StormCloudsGathering, WeAreChange and ForbiddenKnowledgeTV were all essentially put out of business, without warning or explanation.
It was only when Aaron Hawkins, the creator of this clip and publisher of StormCloudsGathering looked into the fine print of Google’s Terms of Service, that he found that content which referred to war, even without any photographs or references to violence would not be deemed “advertising friendly” and therefore not monetized. The ads would stay up there but the publishers would not be paid.
On one level, this is commercial censorship and it’s the opposite of “advertiser friendly” because it gives advertisers less choices in the kind of content on which they can advertise. But as a significant arm of the US’ intelligence apparatus and a major recipient of Corporate Welfare from the US State, Google is also violating the First Amendment Right to Free Speech.
