Posted on 05/09/2014 8:32:17 AM PDT by Kaslin
The Conservative oriented website dedicated to aggregating news from around the world-wide-interwebs, Weasel Zippers, has just lost its primary funding source because… Well… It’s kinda hard to say. According to the site, Google AdSense (an add generator produced by the infamously liberal corporation in Silicon Valley) has cancelled its agreement with the website because of apparent violations to their terms of use.
According to Google, the conservative news site has failed to produce an adequate amount of “original content” to continue utilizing the internet advertising tool provided by Google. Of course, the claim seems mildly curious given the fact that news aggregators around the world use AdSense for their primary, or supplemental, income.
Naturally, Weasel Zippers has attempted to fight back… But, really, what can they do? Despite providing commentary, manual aggregation of news stories, and original analysis, Google has determined that the site is out of compliance with their overly vague requirements for terms of use. Google, in all fairness, has said the site was not “singled out” for its politics… Kinda like 501(c)4 conservative groups. (Ahem… Sarcasm font?) And, let’s face it, this wouldn’t be Google’s first venture into political discrimination:
In fact, Google was the subject of criticism and ridicule several years ago when they decided to “take a stand” against guns by altering their AdSense agreements and web-search algorithms to exclude tools of self-defense. In their “prohibited” content section any website that sells or advertises “weapons or ammunition (e.g., firearms, firearm components, fighting knives, or stun guns)”… Right. Because selling a tool that is enumerated as a “right” under America’s founding document is clearly antithetical to good business practices.
Weasel Zippers is a site that “scours the bowels of the internet” for stories that relate to conservative values, liberal bias, or other politically objectionable tidbits from around the interwebs. Highlights from the stories are then posted on the site (with a link) and are usually accompanied by original observations, comments, or analysis… And despite this being a relatively normal practice for news aggregation websites, this particular conservative site has found itself singled out by Google’s compliance department.
Aside from the fact that Google’s vague terms of use seem to be arbitrarily enforced (just start looking at who provides all those nifty ads on the side of various news aggregator’s pages), the lack of competitive advertisement software puts the conservative blog in a rather difficult position. But, then again, this is part of what free markets are all about. If Weasel Zippers provides a service that is wanted, needed, or desired, they will survive a momentary setback in funding.
Google, as it turns out, will likely be able to continue to thrive as a software innovator while discriminating against those pesky conservatives and gun owners.
Ha,
Google ads did it to mine a couple of years ago (nachumlist.com). Were real sneaky about it too. Ran their ads for almost a full year and at the moment they would have had to pay me, told me that the clicks I was getting were all fake.
Weasel Zippers my good man, it is a badge of honor.
What alternatives are there to AdSense?
Is it a monopoly?
Maybe there’s a good reason why FR is user funded.
Wow. Seriously? As my grandkids would say ... that really sucks.
Could it have been the Flying Jihadi videos?
I block most AdNonSense ads anyway.
At least thru my desktop Netgear router “admin” function. All I get will be a black and red message from the router saying Netgear has blocked this “website”...the little ad inside the AdNonSense ad box.
I right click the ad to find the server the ads are coming from. I’ve probably got most of them in the blocker function.
Mobile surfing is another matter.
I hate ads.
Isn’t that about the same time you were put on the ‘warning’ list?
There are a zillion web site ad farms all using adsense and google knows it but allows it because of the money. I suspect someone in washington did not like that website and google jumped when told to.
I had used google adwords for years, accepting a slow click rate. Then suddenly this February 2014 it exploded with what google says are ‘valid clicks’. I changed nothing. I’ve had to stop all my campaigns as google is grabbing massive amounts of my money with no apparent results.
Oops. Too late, Google.
WZ got too big to go unnoticed
So do I. Although there are some ads on TV that are quite entertaining. Like the one by BMW where some women is on the way to take the family dog (a Boxer) to the vet. Her little daughter is in the backseat and sees the word neutering on the GPS and asks her mother what does neutering mean. The mom goes like umm and the dog's goes like uh oh and he jumps out of the window. The ad is cute, but that still doesn't want me to run and buy the car or any other item because of the ad
I run a small Google adwords agency ... not sure how any website can exist having Adsense as the primary income stream.
Ad Block for AdSense.
In the News/Activism forum, on a thread titled Google Tells Conservative News Website to Take a Hike, minnesota_bound wrote:
There are a zillion web site ad farms all using adsense and google knows it but allows it because of the money. I suspect someone in washington did not like that website and google jumped when told to.
FYI; Levin frequently mentions that site as a source. Gee, do you think that might of had something to do with this ? I wish I was being s/. Welcome to the world of polarized politics. Who is next ?
“Although there are some ads on TV that are quite entertaining.”
Agreed...although, I’ve gotten to the point where I mute TV commercials now, and then surf the internet on my mobile (usually I read FreeRepublic.com) until the program comes back on.
bkmk
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