Google has now acknowledged that it made a mistake when it refused to allow The Claremont Institute to advertise on their own online publication to their readers about the 40th Anniversary Gala at which they are honoring Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Claremont had wanted to advertise on their own online publication, The American Mind.
On Monday morning, prior to the apology, Ryan P. Williams of The Claremont Institute wrote a piece delineating exactly what had happened:
Google, either its algorithm or some individual, had a look at my essay launching our new campaign for a unifying Americanism, “Defend America—Defeat Multiculturalism.” They decided it to be in violation of their policy on “race and ethnicity in personalized advertising” and shut down our advertising efforts to American Mind readers. We weren’t “advertising” anything in the essay, of course, but the relevant section of their policy lists “racially or ethnically oriented publications, racially or ethnically oriented universities, racial or ethnic dating” as examples of violations. Somebody must have determined we were offering “racially or ethnically oriented publications.”
Williams snapped, “This is news to us. The Claremont Institute has spent forty years teaching all who are willing to listen that the meaning of the proposition that all human beings are created equal is the central, animating principle of American political life. One of my colleagues spent two hours on the phone with Google to determine whether we could appeal this ruling or determine which section of the essay was in violation. The response, in short? There is no appeal; we recommend you remove the content to bring yourself into compliance.”
Williams then noted that in his essay he pointed out the case against multiculturalism, identity politics, and political correctness, that modern leftist ideology and politics want to destroy American justice based on equal protection of equal individual rights. Williams wrote that it was nigh impossible to find “Google censorship of the numerous progressive groups that promote the prevailing creed of identity politics based on race and ethnic identity.”
He noted succinctly, “The trouble with Claremont’s argument is its furtherance of a politics that counts people as individuals rather than members of racial or ethnic groups. What Google is really doing (like Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms) is policing the terms of American political debate to advance acceptable establishment ideology.”
He concluded, “In ways small and large, day-by-day and week-by-week, our tech oligarchs are putting their thumbs on the scale against the free flow of ideas. A republican citizenry that cannot exchange ideas freely will soon cease to be free politically. Our experience is just one more example of the groupthink oligarchy probing the perimeter of our constitutional order. As I argued in my essay, the American Right needs to understand the threat and band together to defeat it.”
After note had been taken of Google’s action against Claremont, Google apologized. Williams noted in an update, “Google’s Acting Director of Political and Stakeholder Outreach got in touch with the Claremont Institute to notify us that the labeling of The American Mind as a ‘racially oriented publication’ was a mistake. Our re-marketing ad campaign to americanmind.org readers for our annual dinner is now active once again.”