By David Harsanyi
Tuesday, June 16, 2020
NBC News reported today that two sites, ZeroHedge
and the Federalist, had been banned from generating revenue through
widely-used Google Ads. A Google spokesperson initially told NBC News that
“took action after determining the websites violated its policies on content
related to race.”
I don’t know much about ZeroHedge, but the
contention that the Federalist (where I worked as a senior editor from
2013 to 2019) is “far-right,” as reporter Adele-Momoko Fraser claims twice in
her piece, is utter nonsense. The Federalist publishes a wide variety of
opinions. Some pieces are more provocative than others. Some are very
provocative. So what? NBC News is trying to make the site sound like the Daily
Stormer, when in fact it has contributions from well-known mainstream
libertarians, social conservatives, and moderate Republicans. All of the
content falls well within normal parameters of contemporary political discourse
— which is exactly what outlets such as NBC News are trying to shut down.
Once upon a time, news outlets fought to protect the
ideals of free expression. Now, they assign activists masquerading as
journalists, and boost Orwellian-sounding outfits (what is the “NBC News
Verification Unit”?), to try and smear and censor those who criticize them.
Neither NBC News nor Google offered a single example
backing up their contention that the Federalist has peddled racist
sentiments about Black Lives Matter. As far as I can ascertain, their problem
is with one piece:
The Federalist published an article
claiming the media had been lying about looting and violence during the
protests, which were both included in the report sent to Google.
There is plenty of justification for the offending
argument. Major networks have consistently downplayed the rioting and looting
that have taken place over the past few weeks because such activity undermines
the notion that Black Lives Matter is wholly peaceful. You may disagree with
the characterization, but it’s certainly not bigoted. Black Lives Matter
shouldn’t be shielded from criticism. No one should be.
Here,
it would appear, is the piece in question, written by John Daniel Davidson. Not
one word of it is racist.
As it turns out, a Google spokesperson told Ad Week
that NBC News got the story wrong, and that Google only notified the Federalist
they “could” be demonetized, and that it was the site’s comments section that
was in violation. Then Google told Ad Week that the site would be
demonetized, but that the Federalist could rectify the situation. Both
comments contradict the initial statement made by the Google spokesperson, not
to mention the entire NBC story.
Would Google really demonetize sites over their comment
sections? Has such a standard ever been used for a political website?
Whatever the case, it’s clear now that NBC News was
trying to have the Federalist demonetized. Unequipped to offer a
compelling case on her own, Adele-Momoko Fraser appealed to authority by
pointing to the alleged expertise of a previously unknown British group calling
itself the “Center for Countering Digital Hate.” A quick scan of the site will
illustrate that the group relies on unsubstantiated Internet trolling as a
basis for its “reports.” It looks as if the site is manned by one person, named
Imran Ahmed, who seems to
believe that Microsoft and Ford are also part of the white-supremacist
conspiracy. It’s embarrassing that NBC News would rely on information given by
such a transparently ideological and amateurish organization to censor anyone.
Where are all the other journalists banding together to
defend the ideals of free expression and the First Amendment? So far, nowhere.
The Left’s illiberal impulse to quash opinions it dislikes is getting
increasingly brazen — and dangerous. And it won’t stop here.
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