Google announced it will demonetize content and ban ads skeptical of climate change. The left is jubilant while the right calls it a crackdown on debate.
Summary
Google announced last week it will take a harsher stance on content and ads it claims is “promoting false climate change claims.”
- The search and internet giant will demonetize videos on YouTube that “contradicts well-established scientific consensus around the existence and causes of climate change.”
- Google consulted with the United Nations in developing the policy.
- The new policy is being criticized by academia, questioning how “they determine what is misinformation or simply incomplete or misleading information?”
- The move to target so-called climate deniers comes on the heels of YouTube announcing it will ban all anti-vaccine content.
- Huffington Post noted, not critically, that Google already has a list of issues and topics for which they have demonetized content, like “videos featuring firearm-related content” or content “about tragic events.”
- The New York Times compared the demonetization of “climate change misinformation” to the “shift away from the tobacco business” years ago.
- CNN said Google’s announcement comes as Big Tech is under pressure to do more about climate change, “including action against climate-related misinformation.”
- The Daily Caller characterized Google’s new policy as the company bowing “due to pressure from advertisers.”
- Breitbart called Google’s announcement “one of the most aggressive moves” by Big Tech to “crack down on climate change debate and discussion.”
- RedState argues Google’s announcement is actually a distraction from a new report alleging intrusive tracking of users of Google’s web browser for the purposes of advertising.
Author’s Take
Huffington Post’s gleeful exhortation that this is another example of Big Tech demonetizing or banning content is not the positive news they want it to be. As RedState points out, “the very fundamentals of science are based on challenging assertions.” Just as leftists believe words are violence but violence is free speech, a bold consensus on a scientific subject not being allowed to stand up to scrutiny is regressive, not progressive. If filtering, banning, demonetizing content based on political biases continues, we will be entering a Digital Dark Age.
Return to Freespoke 
© Dallas Gerber, 2021
