27 October 2021

Google Uses Community Guidelines To Silence Us

At least they were treading on 'sensitive territory'. I had the same thing happen when I tried to share a video from Brian Holdsworth on the Bishops' debate over whether Biden should be forbidden Communion.

From Everyday For Life Canada

The message below is what I got on my blog this morning, as I tried to edit a potential new post:

"This post was unpublished because it violates Blogger Community Guidelines. To republish, please update the content to adhere to guidelines." 

Three posts were actually removed, not one. No specific details are given about the violation. My only option is to "correct" the information in the entries and then republish them. But how can one do that when I don't know specifically what content Google considers an infringement of community rules. We believe Google is using community guidelines to silence criticism of the politically correct narrative on the Covid-19 vaccine.

Here are the titles of the posts in question: 

1. "Immunologist warns Toronto Catholic District School Board about the health risks of vaccinating children, but trustees pay no attention" (The post included the letter sent to the school board by Dr. Bryan Brindle.) 

2. "Dr. Robert Malone talks about vaccine safety and other ways to fight the corona-virus"

3. "Stop mandating the experimental Covid-19 vaccine now" (The post was about the sad story of 17 year-old Sean Hartman who died of heart problems shortly after receiving the Covid-19 vaccine.)

When we Googled any of the titles, this what we got:

"It looks like there aren't many great matches for your search."

Here's the introduction to Google's Blogger Content Policy:

Blogger is a free service for self-expression and communication. We believe Blogger increases the availability of information, encourages healthy debate, and makes possible new connections between people. It is our belief that censoring this content is contrary to a service that bases itself on freedom of expression. 

However, in order to uphold these values, we need to curb abuses that threaten our ability to provide this service and the freedom of expression it encourages. As a result, there are some boundaries on the type of content that can be hosted with Blogger. The boundaries we've defined are those that both comply with legal requirements and that serve to enhance the service as a whole.

We rely on blog readers to report content that they find inconsistent with Blogger's Community Guidelines. If you encounter a post that you believe violates Community Guidelines, please report it using the 'Report' link located in the navigation of most blogs. If you are unable to find the link on the blog, you can still report suspected violations here.

This language sounds good: "It is our belief that censoring (healthy debate) this content is contrary to a service that bases itself on freedom of expression." However, the issue be cannot be addressed when no specific references of the violation are provided. All our posts are nothing more than a one-man effort to have a constructive and healthy debate and exchange of ideas. What is Google afraid of?

On the other hand, Google makes it quite clear how to report suspected violations. Google's censoring of content they don't agree with, as other big social media doing the same thing, isn't good for democracy, science, the common good and freedom of speech. Censorship is never a good thing, even when done with the goal of "protecting community guidelines."

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Comments are subject to deletion if they are not germane. I have no problem with a bit of colourful language, but blasphemy or depraved profanity will not be allowed. Attacks on the Catholic Faith will not be tolerated. Comments will be deleted that are republican (Yanks! Note the lower case 'r'!), attacks on the legitimacy of Pope Francis as the Vicar of Christ (I know he's a material heretic and a Protector of Perverts, and I definitely want him gone yesterday! However, he is Pope, and I pray for him every day.), the legitimacy of the House of Windsor or of the claims of the Elder Line of the House of France, or attacks on the legitimacy of any of the currently ruling Houses of Europe.