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Google warns AdSense users not to 'monetize' the war in Ukraine [telecom]

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Opinion by the Moderator
(Guest Moderated by Fred Goldstein, with thanks)

A long time ago, Pat Townsend had ads on the Telecom Digest
website. When I took over, I took them down, since MIT policy was not
to allow ads, and I didn't want to offend our benefactors - power,
processor, pipe, and ping do NOT come cheap - and so the ads went
away. I sent Pat a check for what was left in the AdSense account, but
I decided to keep it open in case we had to change location and come
up with money for a "commercial" web service provider.

Today, I got the following notice from AdSense:

     Dear Publisher,

     Due to the war in Ukraine, we will pause monetization of content
     that exploits, dismisses, or condones the war.  Please note, we
     have already been enforcing on claims related to the war in
     Ukraine when they violated existing policies (for instance, the
     Dangerous or Derogatory content policy prohibits monetizing
     content that incites violence or denies tragic events). This
     update is meant to clarify, and in some cases expand, our
     publisher guidance as it relates to this conflict.  This pause
     includes, but is not limited to, claims that imply victims are
     responsible for their own tragedy or similar instances of victim
     blaming, such as claims that Ukraine is committing genocide or
     deliberately attacking its own citizens.

     Sincerely,

     The Google AdSense Team

Now, I'm neither an admirer or a critic of Google, as a company. My
views on the Google Pixel cellphone are obvious, but I don't think that
Google's search engine and/or advertising business are a threat to
society, good taste, or political correctness.

But, this new policy worries me. With most major newspapers going
online, and with minor regional or local newspapers forced to cut back
on printing expense, the online ad revenue that they receive from
Google AdSense might be essential to maintaining some semblence of a
"free" press.

To the extent that Google's decision causes editors to spike *ANY*
stories about the Russion-Ukranian war, then Google is exercising
editorial control over what ordinary citizens in the U.S. are able to
see and hear concerning it.


--
(Please remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly)

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Thread

Google warns AdSense users not to 'monetize' the war in Ukraine [telecom] Bill Horne <malQRMassimilation@gmail.com> - 2022-04-13 20:35 +0000
  Re: Google warns AdSense users not to 'monetize' the war in Ukraine  [telecom] "Marco Moock" <mo01@posteo.de> - 2022-04-16 20:15 +0200
  Re: Google warns AdSense users not to 'monetize' the war in Ukraine  [telecom] "Dave Garland" <dave.garland@wizinfo.com> - 2022-04-17 00:02 -0500

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