This week, Google momentarily blocked a Trump campaign commercial, reiterating its overt meddling with the 2020 election. Ads aimed at black males in rural Georgia criticized Biden for doing little to curb soaring inflation and illegal immigration.BIDEN CAMPAIGN: Hello there. I’m a member of the Biden campaign.
VOTER: The last time I cast my ballot, I chose Biden.
BIDEN CAMPAIGN: That is great.
VOTER: I hope so. Food, gas, and rent are all on the rise.
BIDEN CAMPAIGN: I get that, but Biden is assisting international “newcomers” to America with their rent.
Membership: Are you referring to illegal immigrants? My own expenses are piling up, and Biden is footing the bill for illegal immigrants’ rent? They receive freebies while I foot the bill.
BIDEN CAMPAIGN: However, you will still vote for Biden, won’t you?
Before Biden, things were better. Trump is running for president.
Reporter Andrew Arenge of NBC News was the first to learn about Google’s move; he recorded Google removing the ad.
Then, Google suddenly reinstated the ad.
They did not even explain why they withdrew the ad. My guess is that a combination of factors played a part, including Trump’s rising support among black voters, Georgia’s standing as a swing state, and Biden’s perceived weakness on the topics of fiscal mismanagement and illegal immigration.
Google has always acted in this way. Taking down Trump’s advertising on ridiculous and unfounded grounds sounded like Google’s idea of a break during the 2020 election.
NEW: This ad has been removed by Google for a "policy violation". It was live in the Google archive this morning but I just looked and it's now been removed.
Super PAC spent over $15K targeting it at specific communities near Macon, GA after launching it on April 25th. https://t.co/DQnUHgsUuS pic.twitter.com/AnwHwtzlp0
— Andrew Arenge (@MrArenge) May 3, 2024
For additional information regarding President Trump’s controversial campaign advertisements, 60 Minutes combed into the archives. We discovered that Google and YouTube removed more than 300 video advertisements, primarily throughout the summer, due to policy violations. Unfortunately, the archive fails to specify which policy was infringed. Did someone break the copyright? False information or highly inaccurate information? Misspelled words? Misspelled words? Nothing is clear. The ads deemed offensive are not subject to review. The transparency report was extremely lacking in transparency.
As in 2020, Google was vague about what “policy” the Trump ad broke, saying only that it may work.
Author: Scott Dowdy
1 Comment