Breaking: Google Censors the Claremont Institute

Last week Facebook kicked Milo Yiannopoulos, Alex Jones, Louis Farrakhan and Paul Watson off of their platform because of their extremism. While I have no brief for any of these individuals, I agreed with the critics who said “don’t think it will just stop with them.”

Sure enough, it appears Google is censoring the Claremont Institute. Claremont president Ryan Williams explained in a Twitter thread Sunday evening, which I have unspooled here:

A thread on Google suppression of free thought:

The Claremont Institute has launched a campaign to engage our fellow citizens in discussion and debate about what it means to be an American. (@jeffgiesea @realDonaldTrump@RaheemKassam @DonaldJTrumpJr)

As part of that effort, we have begun to point out the increasingly existential danger of identity politics and political correctness to our republic. As if to prove our point, Google has judged our argument as wrongthink that should be forbidden.

They are now punishing us for our political thought by refusing to let us advertise to our own readers.

We wanted to show adverts for our May 11 40th Anniversary Gala, at which we’re honoring Sec. of State Mike Pompeo, to readers of our own online publication, American Mind.

But Google refuses to allow us to do so. (If you’re interested, buy tickets here: claremont.org/gala—Monday is the deadline!)

Google had a look at my essay launching our new campaign for a unifying Americanism, “Defend America—Defeat Multiculturalism,” decided it in violation of their policy on “race and ethnicity in personalized advertising,” and shut down our advert efforts to American Mind readers.

We weren’t “advertising” anything in the essay, of course, but the relevant section of their policy lists as examples of violations: “racially or ethnically oriented publications, racially or ethnically oriented universities, racial or ethnic dating.”

Somebody must have decided we were offering “racially or ethnically oriented pubs.” This is news to us. @ClaremontInst has spent 40 yrs teaching all who are willing to listen that the meaning of the proposition that all humans are created equal is America’s central principle.

Google and Facebook are increasingly a menace to American politics.

UPDATE: A longer version from Ryan Williams is here. Key part:

One of my colleagues spent two hours on the phone with Google to determine whether we could appeal this ruling or determine which section of the essay was in violation. The response, in short? There is no appeal; we recommend you remove the content to bring yourself into compliance.

Notice: All comments are subject to moderation. Our comments are intended to be a forum for civil discourse bearing on the subject under discussion. Commenters who stray beyond the bounds of civility or employ what we deem gratuitous vulgarity in a comment — including, but not limited to, “s***,” “f***,” “a*******,” or one of their many variants — will be banned without further notice in the sole discretion of the site moderator.

Responses