Censorship by Google is the removal or omission of information by Google from its services or services from its subsidiaries, such as YouTube, to comply with its corporate policies, lawsuits or various government censorship laws. Google sensors vary between countries and their rules, and from ads to speeches. Over the years, search engine censorship policies and targets are also different, and have been the source of internet censorship debates.
Many governments have asked Google to censor what they publish. In 2012 Google decided to support more than half the requests they receive through court orders and phone calls. This does not include China and Iran who blocked their sites completely.
Video Censorship by Google
Google AdSense
In February 2003, Google stopped displaying ads for Oceana, a nonprofit organization that protested the waste processing operations of large cruise ships. Google cited its editorial policy at the time, stating "Google does not accept advertisements if those ads or sites advocate against other individuals, groups, or organizations." The policy was later changed.
In April 2008, Google refused to run ads for British Christian groups opposed to abortion, explaining that "At this time, Google's policy does not permit the advertisement of websites containing 'abortion and religion'".
As of April 2014, although Google received ads from a pro-choice abortion lobbyist group NARAL, they have removed the ads for the pregnancy crisis center of the anti-abortion. Google deleted Web search ads after investigation by NARAL found evidence that the ads violate Google's policies against deceptive ads. According to NARAL, people who use Google to search for "abortion clinics" get ads that advertise a true pregnancy crisis center for anti-abortion. Google said in a statement that it has followed normal company procedures in applying its advertising policy standards related to the relevance, clarity, and accuracy of advertising in this case.
Maps Censorship by Google
Google Maps
In March 2007, allegations of lower satellite resolution on Google Maps showed the post-Hurricane Katrina damage in the state of Louisiana USA replaced with high-resolution images from before the storm. Google's official blog in April revealed that the image is still available in KML format in Google Earth or Google Maps.
In March 2008, Google removed Street View images and 360 degree military bases per Pentagon request.
To protect the privacy and anonymity of individuals, Google selectively obscures photographs containing license plate numbers and people's faces in Google Street View. Users can ask to obscure an image displaying their users, family, car, or home. Users can also request removal of images that display inappropriate content. In some countries (eg Germany) it modifies images from certain buildings. In the United States, Google Street View adjusts or removes certain images that are considered attractive to national security by the federal government.
Google Search
In the United States, Google usually filters out search results to comply with complaints of related Digital Millennium Copyright Act laws, such as in 2002 when Google filtered out websites that provided critical information to Scientology.
In the UK, it is reported that Google has 'deleted' the 21st Century Inquisition, a website that claims to challenge the authoritarian and sexual moral absolutist ideas in Britain. Google then released a press statement that showed the Inquisition 21 had been trying to manipulate search results. In Germany and France, a study reported that about 113 white, Nazi, anti-Semitic, Islamic extremist and other websites have been removed from German and French versions of Google. Google has complied with this law by excluding sites containing such material in its search results. However, Google does not list the number of excluded results at the bottom of the search results page and links to Lumen (formerly Chilling Effects) for an explanation.
Lolicon Content
On April 18, 2010 Google censored the term "lolicon" in its search results, stopping users from finding meaningful results on lolicon material, even if users typed words along with terms that would typically lead to the results of explicit content; the terms "loli" and "lolita" also experience censorship when attempted to find meaningful results on the subject.
Removal of SafeSearch option
Starting December 12, 2012, in the US, UK, Australia and some other countries, Google removed the option to turn off the SafeSearch image filter completely, forcing users to enter more specific search queries to get adult content. Prior to the change, the three SafeSearch settings - "on", "moderate", and "off" - are available to users. After the change, two "Filter explicit results" settings - "active" and "off" - have just been created. Previous and new settings "on" are similar, and exclude explicit images from search results. The new "off" setting still allows explicit images to appear in search results, but users must enter more specific search requests, and there is no direct equivalent of the old "off" setting that exists after the change as it adds additional explicit search terms to changing search results. These changes bring the image search results into line with existing Google settings for web and video searches.
Some users claim that no fully filtered option is the same as "censorship" by Google. A Google spokesperson disagrees, saying that Google "does not censor any adult content," but "wants to show users what they're looking for - but we aim not to show explicit sexual results unless users are specifically looking for them."
Online pharmacy
Upon completion with the US Food and Drug Administration terminating Google Adwords ads from Canadian pharmacies that allow Americans access cheaper recipes, Google approves some compliance and reporting steps to limit the visibility of "malicious pharmacies". Google and other members of the Internet Secure Pharmacy Center collaborate to remove illegal pharmacies from search results, and participate in "Operation Pangea" with the FDA and Interpol.
Search suggestions
In January 2010, Google reportedly stopped giving auto suggestions for every search that started with the term "Islam is", while it continues to do so for other major religions. According to Wired.com, a Google spokesman stated, "It's a bug and we're trying to fix it as soon as we can." Suggestions for "Islam is" available at the end of that month. The word "Bilderberg" and the surname "Buchanan" are also reported to be censored in the autocomplete results, but also available in February 2010. However, Google continues to filter certain words from autocomplete suggestions, describing them as "potentially inappropriate".
Publication 2600: The Quarterly Hacker has compiled a list of words that are restricted by Google Instant. This is a condition that the company's Instant Search feature will not search. Most of the terms are often vulgar and insulting in nature, but some seemingly irrelevant searches including "Myleak" are removed.
Starting January 26, 2011, Google's Auto Complete feature will not complement certain words like "bittorrent", "torrent", "utorrent", "megaupload", and "rapidshare", and Google actively censor search terms or phrases that the algorithm considers may be spam or intend to manipulate search results.
In September 2012, various sources reported that Google had removed bisexuals from the glossary of blacklisted terms for Instant Search.
Can not Post
In 2013, the Swedish Language Council includes a Swedish version of the word " ungoogleable " (" ogooglebar ") in the list of new words. It "defined terms as something that can not be found with search engines". Google objects to its definition, wants it to refer only to Google search, and the Council removes it to avoid legal confrontation. They also accused Google of trying to "control Swedish".
Celebrity leaked content
On August 31, 2014, nearly 200 personal photos of various celebrities, containing bare and explicit content, were published on certain websites. Google was criticized for linking to the content after some of them became popular enough to reach the front page of some search results. Shortly thereafter, Google removed most search results that linked users directly to the content from the incident.
National
Australia
In January 2010, Google Australia removed a link to the Aboriginal satirical "Encyclopedia Dramatica" article quoting it as a violation of the Australian Racial Discrimination Act. After the website domain changes in 2011, the article reappears in Google Australia search results.
Canada
On June 19, 2014, it was reported that Google had been instructed to remove search results related to the company website named Datalink by the Supreme Court of British Columbia. These sites sell networked device technology that Datalink suspected has been stolen from Equustek Solutions. Google voluntarily deletes links from google.ca, the main site used by Canadians, but the Court provides temporary orders that apply to all Google sites around the world. Google believes that Canadian law can not be enforced worldwide and is granted until June 27, 2014 to comply with court decisions.
China
Google complies with China's Internet censorship policy, enforced by using a colloquial filter known as "The Great Firewall of China" until March 2010. Google.cn search results are filtered out to prevent results that are considered harmful to the People's Republic of China (PRC). Google claims that it needs some censorship to prevent the Chinese government from blocking Google completely, as it did in 2002.
Google claims no plans to provide government information about users looking for blocked content, and will notify users that content has been restricted if they attempt to search for it. In 2009, Google was the only major search engine based in China to explicitly inform users when search results were blocked or hidden. As of December 2012, Google no longer notifies users of possible censorship for certain questions during search. The Chinese government has restricted citizen access to popular search engines like Altavista, Yahoo !, and Google in the past. This complete ban has been revoked. However, the government remains active in filtering Internet content. In October 2005, Blogger and access to Google Cache were available in mainland China; However, in December 2005, some mainland Chinese users of Blogger reported that their access to the site was once again restricted.
In January 2006, Google agreed that Google's Google version, Google.cn, would filter out certain keywords given to it by the Chinese government. Google promises to notify users when search results are censored and says that it will not "retain any services involving private or confidential data, such as Gmail or Blogger, on land." Google said it is not planning to provide information to the government about users looking for blocked content, and will notify users that content has been restricted if they attempt to search for it. Searchers can find a message stating: "In accordance with local laws and policies, some results have not yet been displayed." Google issued a statement saying that "deleting search results is inconsistent with Google's mission" but that the alternative - is closed completely and thus "does not provide information (or a highly degraded user experience of which there is no information) is more inconsistent with our mission." Initially, both censored Google.cn and uncensored Chinese Google.com are available. However, in June 2006, China blocked Google.com once again.
Some Chinese internet users are very critical of Google for helping the Chinese government in suppressing its own citizens, especially those who oppose the government and advocate for human rights. Furthermore, Google has been criticized and called a hypocrite by the Free Media Movement and Reporters Without Borders to approve China's request while simultaneously against the US government's request for similar information. Google China has also been criticized by Reporters Without Borders, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.
On February 14, 2006, protesters were held in a "mass termination with Google" in which users agreed to boycott Google on Valentine's Day to show their disagreement with Google China policy.
In June 2009, Google was ordered by the Chinese government to block various overseas websites, including some with explicit sexual content. Google is criticized by the China Illegal Information Reporting Center (CIIRC) for allowing search results that include sexually explicit content, claiming that the company is a distribution channel for "large amounts of pornographic and obscene content".
On January 12, 2010, in response to a clear Google server hack in an attempt to access information about Chinese dissidents, Google announced that "we are no longer willing to continue to censor our results on Google.cn, etc. for the next few weeks we will discuss with the basic Chinese government where we can operate search engines that are not filtered in the law, if any. "
On March 22, 2010, after talks with Chinese authorities failed to reach an agreement, the company transferred Google China's censorship-compatible service to Google's Hong Kong service, which is outside the jurisdiction of China's censorship laws. However, at least since March 23, 2010, "The Great Firewall" continues to censor search results from the Hong Kong portal, www.google.com.hk (as with the US portal, www.google.com) for controversial terms like "Falun gong" and "June 4 incident" (Tiananmen Square incident). "
European Union
In July 2014 Google began removing certain search results from its search engine in the European Union in response to a request under the right to be forgotten. Articles that were unlinked while searching for a particular personal name, including a 2007 blog by the BBC's Robert Peston on Stan O'Neil, former chairman of investment bank Merill Lynch, were forced out after the bank made a huge loss. Peston criticized Google for "... throwing him into oblivion".
The Guardian reported that six articles, including three related to the former Scottish football referee, had been 'hidden'. Other articles, including one about French office workers who use post-it notes and others about fraudulent attempts to collapse from a lawyer who stood for the election of a legal body Law Society, were affected.
Skynews.com reports that the story of Kelly Osbourne falling ill on the Fashion Police set in 2013 has been removed.
The Oxford Mail reported that its publisher had been notified by Google about the removal of links to the belief story for shoplifting in 2006. The newspaper said it was not known who asked Google to remove the search results, but there had been complaints earlier to the Complaint Commission Press (PCC) in 2010, regarding accuracy and claiming that the report caused "embarrassment", requested that the story be taken from the newspaper's website. The newspaper said two factual amendments were made to the article and PCC rejected the complaint.
An article about converting to Islam from brother George Osborne, Minister of Finance, was removed after a request to Google from an unknown person under a true-to-forget verdict.
The Telegraph reported that a link to a report on its website about the claim that the former head of the Law Society forged a complaint against his hidden deputy. Search results for articles for the same story in Guardian and Independent are also deleted. The Independent reported that his article, along with an article about the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and one about the new trends in sofa design in 1998, was removed. The Telegraph also reports that a link to an article on the belief of a student's driving-drink in 2008 and a 2001 case that resulted in two brothers who each received nine-month prison sentences for treason have been removed.
The Spanish newspaper El Mundo reported that some of the results were hidden above a 2008 news report from a Spanish Supreme Court decision involving executives from Riviera Coast Invest who were involved in a mortgage allotment scandal.
On July 5, 2014, German news magazine Der Spiegel reported removal of search results to an article on Scientology.
On August 19, 2014, the BBC reported that Google had removed 12 links to news on BBC News.
German and French
On October 22, 2002, a study reported that about 113 Internet sites were removed from Google versions of Germany and France. This censorship primarily affects the nationalist websites of White, Nazi, anti-Semitic, extreme Islam and at least one fundamentalist Christian web site. Under French and German law, hate speech and Holocaust denial is illegal. In the case of Germany, sites related to violence or sex such as YouPorn and BME which are considered harmful to youth are also censored.
Google has complied with this law by excluding sites containing such material in its search results. However, Google does not list the number of excluded results at the bottom of the search results page and links to Lumen (formerly known as Chilling Effects) for an explanation.
Swedish
In March 2018, Google deleted a hosted WordPress site from search results in Sweden following an intense media frenzy against Google, Youtube and Facebook by Expressen tabloids and Dagens Nyheter daily newspaper. The WordPress site lists Swedish Jews in the public sphere, and also disrupts the dominant publisher of the Bonnier Group and its soft power. Bonnier Group is the owner of both newspapers.
Although very legal in Sweden, the WordPress site is described as anti-semitic. The Bonnier paper argues that Google may not promote such content, and above all is not ranked high. Ministers in Sweden's green-left government agree with these sentiments, and threaten with national and EU regulations unless Google adjusts its algorithm and removes the "threat and hate" content (hot hat) . Google eventually deleted the site in Sweden because of a copyright claim.
The papers also target Youtube Granskning Sverige (Scrutiny Sweden) channel for allegedly extreme right-wing content. The channel is a citizenship journalism project, in which members are called authority, journalists, and other public figures, although oversight of the figures is considered a "threat". The interview was broadcast with a black background with the channel type logo, and the occasional use of screen disposal from newspaper articles related to the interview. This is standard procedure among Swedish media. However, Google finally fulfilled the request, and closed the channel, citing copyright infringement and breach of contract terms.
On April 13, 2018, Google took part in a meeting with the Swedish government, to discuss the role of search companies in the media landscape. Justice Minister Morgan Johansson (Social Democrat) and Digitalization Minister Peter Eriksson (Green Party) expressed concern that "unauthorized" and "malicious" content is facilitated by Google, and that "trolls" could have a negative impact on the upcoming Swedish parliamentary elections. Google agrees to refine its algorithm, and also employs more staff to ensure "hate and hatred" (hot hat) removed from Google search and Youtube videos. Critics have raised concerns that private international firms are mandated to place censorship in place to comply with local regulations without court guidance, and that free speech deteriorates at an accelerating rate.
India
In September 2016, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare revealed that Google has agreed to censor search results and advertisements from prenatal sex offenses, which are illegal in India.
Israel
In 2015 and 2017, Google removes certain search results from its search engine in Israel, following a silencing command.
United Kingdom
On September 21, 2006, it was reported that Google had 'deleted' the 21st Century Inquisition, a website that claims to challenge the authoritarian and sexual moral absolutist ideas in the UK. According to the Inquisition 21, Google acted "to support campaigns by law enforcement agencies in the US and Britain to suppress emerging information about their involvement in major malpractices", allegedly exposed by their own investigations and legal action against those conducting Operation Ore, law enforcement campaigns which is far reaching and heavily criticized against child pornography viewers. Google released a press statement stating that the Inquisition 21 has been trying to manipulate search results
United States
Google usually removes search results to comply with legal complaints related to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
In 2002, "in a clear response to the criticism of the handling of threatening letters from lawyers of the Church of Scientology," Google began making the DMCA "takedown" public letters, posting those notices in the Chilling Effects archive, filing legal threats created. against Internet users and Internet sites.
In mid-2016, Google made a two-month standoff with author Dennis Cooper after deleting his Blogger and Gmail account without warning or explanation following an anonymous complaint. This case attracted media attention worldwide, and ultimately resulted in Google returning Cooper content to him.
International
In June 2017, the Canadian Supreme Court ruled that Google could be forced to remove search results worldwide. Civil liberties groups including Human Rights Watch, the BC Civil Liberties Association, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation argue that this will set a precedent for Internet censorship. In appeal, Google argues that a global reach of orders is not required and it raises concerns over freedom of expression. While the court wrote that "we have not, until recently, accepted that freedom of expression requires the facilitation of the sale of goods that violate the law" OpenMedia spokesman David Christopher warned that "there is a big risk that governments and commercial bodies will see this ruling as justification. can result in legal and legitimate content lost from the web because of court orders in opposite corners of the globe. "
YouTube
YouTube, video sharing sites and Google subsidiaries, in the Terms of Service, prohibit posting videos that infringe copyright or depict pornography, illegal acts, haphazard violence, or hate speech. Videos posted by users who violate these terms may be removed and replaced with a message that read, "This video has been removed for violation of our Terms of Service."
In September 2007, YouTube blocked the account of Wael Abbas, an Egyptian activist posting a video of police brutality, voting irregularity and anti-government demonstrations under the Mubarak regime. Shortly thereafter, her account was later restored, and then also her video.
In 2006, Thailand blocked access to YouTube for users with Thai IP addresses. Thai authorities identified 20 offensive videos and demanded that Google remove them before unblocking any YouTube content. In 2007, a Turkish judge ordered blocked access to YouTube for content that insulted former president Mustafa Kemal AtatÃÆ'¼rk, a crime under Turkish law. On February 22, 2008, Pakistan Telecommunications sought to block regional access to YouTube following government orders. The effort then led to a worldwide YouTube outage that took 2 hours to fix. Four days later, Pakistan Telecom lifted the ban after YouTube removed a controversial religious commentary made by Dutch government officials about Islam.
In October 2008, YouTube removed the video by Pat Condell titled Welcome to Saudi Britain ; in response, his fans reuploaded the video itself and the National Secular Society wrote to YouTube in protest. The video was finally restored.
During the Gaza Strip air strikes in December 2008, YouTube temporarily removed a video of air strikes against Hamas "after viewers, apparently Hamas supporters, mark it as inappropriate and request removal." YouTube restores clips a few hours later, with a warning that it is inappropriate for minors.
In 2016, YouTube launched a localized version of Pakistani websites for users in Pakistan to censor content that is perceived as blasphemy by the Pakistani government as part of its deal with the latter. As a result, a three-year ban on YouTube by the Pakistani government was subsequently revoked.
Advertiser-friendly content
YouTube policies restrict certain forms of content from being included in monetized videos with ads, including strong violence, language, sexual content, and "controversial or sensitive subjects and events, including subjects related to war, political conflicts, natural disasters, and tragedies , even if the graphic image is not displayed ", except the content" is usually newsletters or comedy and the intent of the creator is to notify or entertain ".
In August 2016, YouTube introduced a new system to notify users about "advertiser-friendly content" rule violations, and enable them to appeal. After its introduction, many leading YouTube users began accusing sites of de facto censorship, indiscriminately disabling monetization on videos covering topics such as skin care, politics, and LGBT history. Philip DeFranco argues that not being able to earn money from a video is a "censorship with a different name", while Vlogbrothers also points out that YouTube has marked "Zaatari: the mind of a refugee camp" and "Vegetables that look like penises" (though marking on that first finally canceled). Hashtag "#YouTubeIsOverParty" is used explicitly on Twitter as a means to discuss controversy. A YouTube spokesperson stated that "while our policy to shrink the video due to advertiser-friendly concerns has not changed, we've recently improved the notification and appeal process to ensure better communication for our creators."
In March 2017, a large number of leading advertisers and leading companies began withdrawing their ad campaigns from YouTube, due to concerns that their ads appeared on appropriate and/or extremist content, in what the YouTube community began to call a 'boycott'. YouTube Personality PewDiePie describes this boycott as an "adpocalypse," noting that its video revenue has dropped to the point where it generates more revenue from sharing subscriptions of YouTube Red subscriptions (shared by customer views) than on ads. On April 6, 2017, YouTube announced planned changes to the Partner Program, limiting new membership to watched channels with a total of at least 10,000 video views. YouTube states that changes are made to "ensure revenue streams only to creators who play by rules".
In July 2017, YouTube began modifying the suggested videos to remove the prejudices of terrorist ideology. In August 2017, YouTube wrote a blog post describing the new "restricted state" for religious and controversial videos, which did not allow the comments, likes, monetization, and suggested videos.
In March 2018, the Atlantic found that YouTube had canceled the list of videos in which journalist Daniel Lombroso reported a speech by white nationalist Richard B. Spencer at the 2016 annual conference of the National Policy Institute, where they celebrated Donald Trump's Victory in the presidential election. YouTube re-enrolls videos after The Atlantic submits a complaint.
Censorship of LGBT content in Restricted Mode
In March 2017, the "Restricted Mode" feature was criticized by the YouTube LGBT community to filter videos unfairly addressing human sexuality issues and sexual identity and gender, even when there are no explicit references to sexual intercourse or inappropriate content for children. Rapper Mykki Blanco told The Guardian that the restrictions were used to make the LGBT vlogger feel "watched and demeaned" and "sending a clear homophobic message that the fact that my video features a strange weird image means slapped with 'age restrictions ', while other cis, overly sexual heteronormative work, remained uncensored.Powerers Tegan and Sara also argued that LGBT people "should not be restricted", after admitting that the mode has censored some of their music videos.
Critics have emphasized that LGBT content should not be viewed as sexual or inappropriate for children. The availability of this content for LGBT teenagers, such as information about outgoing, is very important. A study by GLSEN Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network found that LGBT adolescents were "five times as likely as non-LGBT teenagers to find information online about sexuality," and that "81% of LGBT adolescents search for health and medical information online." YouTube then states that a technical error in Restricted Mode is wrongly impacting "hundreds of thousands" of LGBT-related videos.
Dennis Prager's demands
In October 2017, conservative commentator Dennis Prager sued YouTube, arguing that the site was systematically discriminating against a conservative point of view.
On May 10, 2007, Google shareholders rejected the anti-censorship proposal for the company. The text of the failed proposal filed by the New York City Financial Controller Office (which controls a large number of shares on behalf of the pension fund) states that:
- Data that can identify an individual user may not be hosted in a country restricting the internet, where political speech can be treated as a crime by the legal system.
- The company will not engage in proactive censorship.
- The Company will use all legal means to refuse requests for censorship. The Company will only comply with the request if requested to do so through a legally binding procedure.
- Users will be clearly notified when the company has approved a legally binding government request to filter or censor the content that the user is trying to access.
- Users should be notified of enterprise data retention practices, and how their data is shared with third parties.
- The company will document all cases where a legally binding censor request has been met, and that information will be made available to the public.
David Drummond, senior vice president for corporate development, said: "Withdrawing from China, turning off Google.cn, is not the right thing to do at the moment... but that's what this proposal will do."
CEO Eric Schmidt and founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin recommended that shareholders vote against the proposal. Together they hold 66.2 percent of Google's total shareholder vote, which means that they themselves can reject the anti-censorship proposal.
See also
- Google Criticism
- YouTube Red # License and content blocking terms
- Terminated Google services
- Internet censorship
- Network neutrality
References
External links
- hiddenfromgoogle.com List of links affected by the European Union's "Right to Forget"
- Pakistan v/s Google Product Blogspot Down in Pakistan.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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