Web Censorship and Political Bias

#828
#828
NBC News under fire for apparently pushing Google to remove conservative sites from ad platform

NBC News is facing intense backlash for apparently influencing Google to punish two conservative news sites over what was deemed offensive coverage of the George Floyd protests.


In a report published Tuesday afternoon, NBC News claimed Google "banned" The Federalist and ZeroHedge from Google Ads for "pushing unsubstantiated claims" about the Black Lives Matter movement. Google later pushed back, claiming that The Federalist "was never demonetized," and adding, "We worked with them to address issues on their site related to the comments section."

In addition, it appeared it was NBC News' inquiry into the matter that prompted Google's actions in the first place.

"Google's ban of the websites comes after the company was notified of research conducted by the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a British nonprofit that combats online hate and misinformation. They found that 10 U.S-based websites have published what they say are racist articles about the protests, and projected that the websites would make millions of dollars through Google Ads," NBC News reported.

The report continued, "Google blocked The Federalist from its advertising platform after the NBC News Verification Unit brought the project to its attention. ZeroHedge had already been demonetized prior to NBC News’ inquiry, Google said."

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NBC News' Adele-Momoko Fraser, the London-based journalist behind the report, appeared to celebrate the results of her reporting by thanking the two groups "for their hard work and collaboration." She also used the Black Lives Matter hashtag.

She quickly deleted the tweet and reshared it but without the activist hashtag.

NBC News Verification Unit executive producer Ruaridh Arrow appeared similarly to delete a tweet that included the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag.

Later Tuesday afternoon, Adweek reporter Scott Nover said that according to a Google spokesperson, NBC News got it "wrong" and that The Federalist "could be demonetized" but has not.​

The Google spokesperson also suggested to Nover that the site's "comments section" was in violation of Google's policies but not any of its articles.​


Google later addressed the controversy and appeared to debunk some of NBC News' reporting.
"The Federalist was never demonetized," Google Communications tweeted. "We worked with them to address issues on their site related to the comments section. Our policies do not allow ads to run against dangerous or derogatory content, which includes comments on sites, and we offer guidance and best practices to publishers on how to comply."​


A Google spokesperson reiterated to Fox News, "To be clear, The Federalist is not currently demonetized. We do have strict publisher policies that govern the content ads can run on, which includes comments on the site. This is a longstanding policy."

NBC News was slammed on social media for what has been described as "activism" in addition to what appeared to have been faulty reporting.​


"Working to get websites you don't like demonetized by Google isn't journalism, it's activism," CNN editor Kyle Feldscher tweeted.

"If you have a problem with ZeroHedge and/or The Federalist, write an article about what they got wrong and why that matters. That would be an act of journalism.​

Instead, NBC mounts a pressure campaign on Google to suffocate opinions NBC doesn’t like," Daily Caller editor Vince Coglianese reacted.
​


"It’s heartbreaking that journalists, of all people, would be leading the charge to deplatform outlets they don’t like. Besides undermining the basic principals of our profession, this will come back to bite us. Cancel Snitch Journalism," Bloomberg Opinion columnist Eli Lake tweeted.​
 
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#829
#829
Google Demonetizes Zero Hedge

https://www.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
As you may have read on NBC, Google has decided to suspend ad hosting on the "far-right" Zero Hedge (which apparently can be anything from "batshit insane Austrian school blog" to Russian propaganda or framed in any other way that serves the agenda of those who disagree with our views - which apparently these days is a lot of people) along with The Federalist, a decision that would have a materially adverse impact for both websites. The reason presented to us for this decision is far more mundane than what has been disclosed by NBC: we are currently appealing it, and expect to remedy it.

That said, we were surprised by the framing of the suspension by the NBC article, which disturbingly appears to be another attempt at activist targeting of inconvenient media outlets, especially since the core argument presented by the NBC employee is different than what Google actually has said. In fact, half the NBC article just happens to be dead wrong.

It is also notable, the two articles that are referenced in the NBC article - which in turn is based on a complaint by some self-appointed arbiter of free speech, the UK-based liberal Center for Countering Digital Hate - were not ours, but were contributor op-eds by third parties (here and here) one of which is from 2016. Do we now live in a time when ad platforms will suspend, say, the New York Times for publishing highly controversial Op-Eds?​
 
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#830
#830
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#834
#834
NBC News’ Adele-Momoko Fraser Walks Back Touted ‘Collaboration’ with Activist Group on Google Story

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NBC News reporter Adele-Momoko Fraser claimed Tuesday that she did not “collaborate” with an activist organization — despite initially calling its efforts “collaboration” — on a story about Google banning the libertarian website ZeroHedge from its ad platform and threatening the conservative website The Federalist with the same fate unless it removed its comment section.

Fraser originally reported that both The Federalist and ZeroHedge were barred from Google’s ad platform after NBC News’ “Verification Unit” presented the technology giant with research from a left-wing group, the Center for Countering Digital Hate, which calls on digital advertisers to financially blacklist conservatives websites, including Breitbart News.

However, a Google spokesperson dispelled part of the report. “The Federalist is not currently demonetized. We do have strict publisher policies that govern the content ads can run on, which includes comments on the site. This is a longstanding policy,” said the spokesperson.

In a Tuesday tweet publicizing her report, Fraser originally wrote: “NEW — from @NBC_VC. Thanks to @SFFakeNews [Stop Funding Fake News] and @CCDHate [Center for Countering Digital Hate] for their hard work and collaboration!”



Hours after the admission, Fraser claimed that she did “not collaborate on the research itself” and accused Google of misstating that The Federalist had been banned from its ad network.

The parsing of this denial — merely that NBC News did not assist with “research” on the targeted news sites — does not answer critics’ charges that Fraser herself may have intended to bring about their financial downfall. Sean Davis, a co-founder of The Federalist, told Fox News’ Tucker Carlson that, from his perspective, NBC “partnered with a foreign left-wing group in Europe to go after us and to use Google to go after us.”​

Mollie Hemingway, Senior Editor at the Federalist, excoriated Fraser for her denial, satirically paraphrasing the social media post to allege it was merely damage control. “[W]hen I explicitly thanked these shady foreign groups for their ‘hard work and collaboration!’ in a conspiracy I led to silence and punish media organizations I personally oppose, I didn’t realize how poorly it would go for me and so now I’m trying and failing to walk it back,” Hemingway wrote to Fraser.

As Breitbart News reported Tuesday, Fraser previously interned for Qatar-based Al Jazeera network early in her career, according to LinkedIn. She has since held jobs at CBS News, the BBC, Channel 4, and Sky News.​

 
#837
#837
Wikipedia Editors Censor Antifa Involvement in Riots, Past Violence

Antifa-Berlin-640x480.png


After riots over the death of George Floyd in police custody prompted renewed attention to the violent far-left group Antifa, editors on Wikipedia sought to keep out or minimize any mention of Antifa’s involvement in rioting as part of the group’s page on the site. Material about past Antifa violence was also removed and an effort has been made to soften or remove the description of Antifa as a far-left militant group.

Wikipedia editors have further sought to smear Antifa critics such as journalist Andy Ngo, who was viciously attacked by Antifa last year, and prominently accuse conservatives and the Trump Administration of spreading what they call conspiracy theories about the group.

Wikipedia Editors Censor Antifa Involvement in Riots, Past Violence
 
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#842
#842
Row breaks out over Twitter's decision to Ban Katie Hopkins for 'hateful conduct' as critics accuse social media giant of curbing free speech while her opponents celebrate

A row has broken out over Twitter's decision to ban Katie Hopkins for 'hateful conduct' as critics accused the social media giant of curbing free speech.

The former Apprentice star turned right-wing commentator, who had more than one million followers, was removed for a string of offensive tweets.

She sparked outrage on numerous occasions with comments on race, religion and immigration - which led to a petition urging Twitter to silence her.

Some celebrated the move but others questioned the site's right to curb free speech, with one user setting up a petition to bring her back.

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Katie Hopkins is BANNED from Twitter for breaking rules on hate speech | Daily Mail Online
 
#844
#844
Amazon Censors ‘Killing Free Speech’ Documentary About Censorship

Amazon has removed the first part of Killing Free Speech, a documentary about the threats to freedom of expression posed by Antifa and its allies in the media and Democrat parties. A second part of the documentary, focused on the power of Big Tech, will shortly be released.

This is the second time that the documentary’s creator, independent Danish-American conservative filmmaker Michael Hansen, has been censored by Amazon. As Breitbart News reported last year, Hansen’s previous documentary, about mass migration and Islam in Europe, was also censored by the Big Tech platform.

Amazon Censors 'Killing Free Speech' Documentary About Censorship
 
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#850
#850
Twitter Censors President Trump (Again) over Warning to Lawless Agitators

Twitter has censored President Donald Trump for the second time in the space of a month, hiding a tweet warning that lawless protesters will be “met with serious force.”

President Trump’s full tweet says:

“There will never be an “Autonomous Zone” in Washington, D.C., as long as I’m your President. If they try they will be met with serious force!”


Anyone who attempts to view the tweet through Twitter will see it hidden behind a notice from the far-left Silicon Valley company, informing them that the tweet has somehow violated the platform’s rules.​
 
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