From CENSORED: Townhall Says Google Flagged Sen. Rand Paul’s Column as ‘Unreliable’ and ‘Harmful’

by Catherine Salgado

Leftist Google targeted a Townhall.com column by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) for censorship for daring to critique the dangers of gain-of-function research.

Townhall Media reported that, on Feb. 16, “As happens with too many stories and columns at Townhall, our team was notified by Google that Senator Paul's op-ed — Gain of Function Research: A Death Wish for the World — was flagged for containing ‘unreliable and harmful claims.’” The policy to which Townhall referred is under Google’s Publisher Policies, having content with “Unreliable and harmful claims.”

Google applies this label to content that supposedly “‘promotes harmful health claims or relates to a current, major health crisis and contradicts authoritative scientific consensus,’” Townhall quoted from the publisher policy. Apparently, a sitting senator with medical credentials isn’t allowed to cite experts to support an opinion without somehow “contradict[ing]” the so-called “scientific consensus,” according to Google.

Google’s explainer video of the policy claims, “[A]dvertisers must trust that publisher content is acceptable for their brands.” Google flagging content like this could, therefore, drive ad revenue away from a piece or site, constituting a form of censorship… The Google message screenshot claimed these alleged issues with Paul’s column were a “‘must fix.’”