Leftist Google targeted a Townhall.com column by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) for censorship for daring to critique the dangers of gain-of-function research.
Townhall Media reported that, on Feb. 16, “As happens with too many stories and columns at Townhall, our team was notified by Google that Senator Paul’s op-ed — Gain of Function Research: A Death Wish for the World — was flagged for containing ‘unreliable and harmful claims.’” The policy to which Townhall referred is under Google’s Publisher Policies, having content with “Unreliable and harmful claims.”
Google applies this label to content that supposedly “‘promotes harmful health claims or relates to a current, major health crisis and contradicts authoritative scientific consensus,’” Townhall quoted from the publisher policy. Apparently, a sitting senator with medical credentials isn’t allowed to cite experts to support an opinion without somehow “contradict[ing]” the so-called “scientific consensus,” according to Google.
Google’s explainer video of the policy claims, “[A]dvertisers must trust that publisher content is acceptable for their brands.” Google flagging content like this could, therefore, drive ad revenue away from a piece or site, constituting a form of censorship.
Paul merely highlighted findings and statements from various federal agencies, public health officials, and Columbia University professors on the potential negative results of attempting to mutate and tamper with viruses, according to Townhall. The Google message screenshot claimed these alleged issues with Paul’s column were a “‘must fix.’”
Townhall insisted the only “harm” from Paul’s column was that it undercut the narrative from officials like former National Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Big Tech consistently and aggressively censored Americans to protect establishment health narratives since shortly after the discovery of the COVID-19 outbreak, as MRC Free Speech America has documented in our exclusive CensorTrack.org database.
This is hardly the first time Big Tech censored Paul. Twitter censored the senator’s tweet of a historical fact on Nov. 2020 with a “misleading information about voting” notice, for instance. Google-owned YouTube appeared to remove Paul’s video protesting the platform’s censorship and suspended him for seven days on Aug. 2021, according to the senator.
In fact, MRC Free Speech America researchers recorded Big Tech censoring 22 members of the House of Representatives and 11 Senators in CensorTrack since 2020. That represents 24,938,291 times information was kept from social media users through secondhand censorship.
Furthermore, MRC Free Speech America also did a series of exclusive studies on Google search bias and election interference. MRC researchers exposed Google for extreme bias in an October 2022 study showing how Google favored Democratic Senate candidates in key races leading up to the 2022 midterm elections. Google was also caught burying the campaign websites of Big Tech critics ahead of the midterm elections.
Google also just expanded its “prebunking” censorship efforts in Germany and has similar plans for India.
Meanwhile pro-censorship Susan Wojcicki just announced she is resigning as CEO of Google-owned YouTube, the day after the Google CEO was subpoenaed by the House of Representatives.
Google did not respond to a request for comment as of the publication of this piece.
Conservatives are under attack. Contact Google at 650-253-0000 and demand it be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on so-called hate speech and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using CensorTrack’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
Thank you to Catherine Salgado for this article.
Catherine Salgado was a Staff Writer with Media Research Center’s NewsBusters’ Free Speech America. She also has a column, Washington’s Bayonette, on The Rogue Review and her own SubStack newsletter, Pro Deo et Libertate. Catherine previously wrote for The National Pulse and is a graduate of Christendom College with a degree in Classical Languages and Theology. She received the Andrew Breitbart MVP award for August 2021 from The Rogue Review.