Topic: WorldNetDaily
All month long, WorldNetDaily editor Joseph Farah has been spouting conspiracy theories (which, of course, he has no direct evidence to support) about how the "Digital Cartel" of Google and Facebook are running WND out of business (and not, say, WND's history of publishing fake news) while also begging for money to keep WND alive. His Aug. 20 column starts off with yet another anti-Google screed:
How much does Google hate WND?
It’s hard to underestimate the vitriol.
I understand. I’ve been a long-time harsh critic. Before most of the world caught on to Google’s racket, some 11 years ago, I publicly called Google “evil,” primarily for its coziness with the tyrannical brutes in Beijing. (See video above.) A decade later, knowing that Google has a better working relationship with the totalitarians in China than they do with Republicans in the U.S., my own level of respect for the search giant has only plummeted.
Why?
Because it’s killing freedom of speech, freedom of the press and freedom of religion – in the U.S.!
Even if Farah's rants about Google are true -- that it's suppressing WND content because of a double-secret policy of discriminating against right-wing content or retaliation for Farah's unhinged anti-Google rants -- he's making the anti-capitalist argument that Google shouldn't be able to run its business as it pleases. (He's already demanded that Google and Facebook be subject to effective net neutrality.) At the same time, he's suggesting that WND should suffer no consequences in the marketplace for its history of fake news and conspiracy-mongering -- that WND should continue to exist by some kind of divine right, not that it has earned that right. (We would argue that it hasn't.)
The meat, as it were, of Farah's column is based on its headline: "Guess how many hits WND gets from Google search." He takes a stab at answering his own question:
How many visitors do you suppose are referred by Google?
Take a wild guess.
Would you suspect the biggest most powerful search engine in the world might send over maybe 10 percent?
Guess again. Not even close.
Seven or eight years ago, it was not unusual for WND stories to be among the top breaking news stories in the main Google News display. In at least the last five years, I can’t recall ever seeing one WND story cited on its first page where daily, hourly, you will find the left-wing editorials of Huffington Post and Daily Beast topping the referrals, along with the New York Times, CNN and Washington Post.
You won’t see the Daily Caller or Breitbart up there, either.
In other words, it’s a systematic boycott of the independent media that is not sold out to the fake news left, the Democratic Party and the conspiracy mongers of global warming, Russian collusion and anti-Trump hysteria.
Note that Farah doesn't answer his own question -- he never actually says how much traffic Google sends WND, other than that it's somewhere less than "10 percent." Nor does Farah explain why WND deserves more traffic from Google, whose function is to serve up relevant links to its users. Does Farah think Obama birther freakouts, Seth Rich conspiracy theories, fawning pro-Trump stenography and warmed-over press releases are relevant to people seeking fair, balanced newsworthy content?
In his usual column-ending pitch for cash, Farah implies that WND somehow represents the best of America: "If the 'Speech Code Cartel' wins, America loses." We suspect America will continue to do just fine if WND doesn't survive.
