Sen. Ted Cruz sent a letter to the CEO of Google accusing the company of “abusing its monopoly power in an effort to censor political speech with which it disagrees” and demanding answers on communications the tech giant had with third parties concerning a conservative outlet.
The Wednesday letter came a day after an NBC News report claimed that Google was banning the Federalist, as well as right-wing financial blog Zero Hedge, from its advertising platform for violating Google’s policies on race-related content. Google later said it had alerted the Federalist that it was violating policies in its comment section in articles. The tech giant, however, denied blocking the outlet from generating money with Google Ads.
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“The Federalist was never demonetized,” Google tweeted on Tuesday after NBC News published its report. “We worked with them to address issues on their site related to the comments section. Our policies do not allow ads to run against dangerous or derogatory content, which includes comments on sites, and we offer guidance and best practices to publishers on how to comply.”
“As the comment section has now been removed, we consider this matter resolved and no action will be taken,” the company added.
Cruz sent his letter to Google CEO Sundar Pichai following the report, saying the incident appears to be part of a trend within a “bigger problem” concerning the censorship of free speech in Silicon Valley.
“This is part of a bigger problem. The culture of free speech in this country is under attack, and Google is helping lead the charge,” he wrote. “Whereas Americans once understood that the best response to speech was more speech, some Americans, with the help of some of the most powerful companies on the planet, are now pressing to silence and punish those expressing views that do not align with the prevailing and ever-shifting progressive orthodoxy.”
The Texas Republican also outlined various left-wing outlets that he said are allowed to have comment sections without facing scrutiny.
“Google’s decision to target The Federalist is transparently politically motivated,” Cruz wrote. “Numerous ‘progressive’ media outlets allow comments, including, Huffington Post, Mother Jones, Daily Kos, Talking Points Memo, Wonkette, Slate, Jezebel, The Root, Salon, The Intercept, The Young Turks, and many others.”
Cruz posed five questions to Pichai and gave a deadline of June 24 for them to be answered:
- “Has Google examined the comments sections of any of the ‘progressive’ organizations listed in this letter and made any assessment whatsoever how they compare to the comments on The Federalist that were claimed as a basis for demonetization?”
- “Will Google apply the same standards to all media organizations, or just those with which it has political disagreements?”
- “Does Google believe Section 230 protects The Federalist? Why or why not?”
- “If any offensive comments appear on YouTube, will Google begin immediately demonetizing its subsidiary? Within three days, the deadline given to The Federalist?”
- “Is Google’s preferential treatment to YouTube, on far more favorable terms than those extended to The Federalist, consistent with the Sherman Act? Why or why not?”
The senator also requested that the company provide information on correspondence between Google and the NBC News Verification Unit regarding the Federalist, communication between Google and the Center for Countering Digital Hate concerning the Federalist, and internal communication within the company regarding the Federalist.
Other lawmakers and people within the media were quick to denounce the report concerning the Federalist and Google, including the New York Post, which published an editorial titled “A fresh sign of Google’s excessive power.”
“For a purely online publication, it’s a death threat: Google is warning two sites, ZeroHedge and The Federalist, that it will cut them off from Google Ads revenue because of reader posts in their comments sections,” the editorial said.
It continued, “This is particularly egregious because both ‘violators’ were brought to Google’s attention by an NBC reporter pushing claims from left-wing nonprofits — a reporter who couldn’t get her own facts right.”
