Topic: WorldNetDaily
In the month before he mysteriously disappeared from day-to-day operations -- with still no explanation why -- WorldNetDaily editor Joseph Farah felt the need to relitigate yet again his complaints against Google., which he continues to blame for WND's shaky financial situation. He ranted in his Aug. 1 column:
Censored by Google: Back in 2020, that is what happened to Martin Luther King's famous "Letter From Birmingham Jail," which had run in The Atlantic's August 1963 issue. I genuinely feel sorry for The Atlantic, but it wasn't censored like all of WND's content – 100% – has been since November two years ago. My colleagues at the Gateway Pundit were also permanently demonetized by Google about the same time.
MLK's letter is one of the most important texts of the civil rights movement.
Google thinks it's foolproof because of artificial intelligence and the like – but it's not. The letter's censoring wasn't intentional, of course. But it was more embarrassing than sticking it to WND, the oldest start-up on the internet (birthed in 1997), because of its reporting and commentary.
Google cost this gritty, conservative, Christian journal tens of millions of dollars because of its virtual monopoly and know-it-all attitude.
[...]
For 24 years we co-existed. Actually, I doubt [Google CEO Sundar] Pichai has been at Google that long. I don't even know if he's old enough. I could call Google evil, which I did often, and yet they were happy to take my money nonetheless. But when I crossed swords with the Southern Poverty Law Center I was doomed – me and most of my employees.
Even Slate, a bona fide leftist site, and many others also have had specific articles demonetized because Google disapproved of them. Yet only two sites have been "permanently demonetized" – for two years and counting.
As we've documented, WND has not been "demonetized" -- Google has simply chosen to stop doing business with a website known for fake news and conspiracy theories by no longer allowing its ads to appear there. In short, Google and WND had a business agreement, and WND repeatedly violated the terms of that agreement.
That was followed by WND's usual (and false) rebuttals to the Google standards WND broke -- guidelines against hateful content was retorted with how "WND dares to report honestly and forthrightly on the fantastically deranged transgender agenda," guidelines against "demonstrably false" content was rebutted with "the obvious and provable fact that the 2020 election was one of the most corrupt, manipulated and RIGGED elections in American history," and so on. Farah concluded by huffing:
We don't play ball with Google. We know exactly what we believe. One of the most precious things we believe in is the First Amendment to the Constitution. In the past, newspapers and other media never worried about that changing or getting watered down or becoming extinct. The First Amendment has been foundational to this nation for 236 years. It's our heritage, our government's most important statement of who we are.
It reads: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
May it always stand in word and deed.
Last we checked, the First Amendment doesn't protect lies and hate.
Farah used his Aug. 16 column to praise Robert Kennedy Jr. -- whose campaign for president WND has ironically promoting -- for suing Google for pointing out that he's an anti-vaxxer conspiracy theorist:
See how easy it is to sue the government and Google for censoring all of us?
All it takes is a little money and the will to do it. Like Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
A federal magistrate judge has set an emergency hearing on Kennedy request for a temporary restraining order barring Google from censoring his speech on YouTube during the 2024 campaign. Kennedy, a candidate for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court Northern District of California against Google, LLC and its wholly owned subsidiary YouTube, LLC, last week.
The hearing was to be held this week before Judge Nathanael Cousins in the federal courthouse located in San Jose, California.
Kennedy alleges that Google worked with the federal government to develop and enforce "misinformation" policies to censor the government's political opponents, like RFK Jr., who is running against President Biden in the Democratic primary. Such actions violate the First Amendment when, as here, "they result from a public-private partnership that relies on government sources and when the private party, Google, shares the government's censorship goals."
Farah went on to cheer Kennedy for playing the "censorship" card, then tried to ride his coattails:
Kennedy is absolutely correct. And so was WND when we set out blaze the trail in independent online journalism:
[...]
Two years ago, Google dropped a huge nuclear bomb on WND by permanently demonetizing us.
When Google demonetized WND, the world's second-wealthiest company finally revealed what they considered the three BIG LIES that this news site had been promoting, for which reason they throttled our traffic, advertising revenue and search accessibility. In other words, Google tried to drive us completely out of business.
Farah copy-and-pasted yet again WND's bogus rebuttal to its Google guideline violations After noting how it promoted various COVID conspiracies, he added: "This last one we share in common with Robert Kennedy. It was government under Joe Biden that made this formula lethal to the First Amendment."
Then it was time for a money beg as Farah mixed in a donation drive in his call for prayers:
We've lost more than 90% of our revenues since 2016. We are essentially operating on fumes.
If WND means something special to you, we continue to need your prayers and your financial blessings. While some of our friends in the independent media have billionaire patrons, you should know that we do not, and never have. We've always operated the old-fashioned way, earning our own way. We spend only what we take in through revenues and donations.
We do it because we love it. We always have. But we also love you for remembering us. Truly.
Most of all, we love God and trust Him for our daily bread.
So, please, don't forget to keep us in your prayers. We can feel their effectiveness. They give us great encouragement to keep fighting on.
He even provided a phone number and a special email address "for anyone who is in a position to contribute $5,000 or more."
