As
Newsguard’s project advances, it will soon become almost impossible
to avoid this neocon-approved news site’s ranking systems on any
technological device sold in the United States.
by
Whitney Webb
Part
6 - Financial censorship
Another
Newsguard service shows that this organization is also seeking
to harm independent media financially by targeting online revenue.
Through a service called “Brandguard,” which it describes as a
“brand safety tool aimed at helping advertisers keep their
brands off of unreliable news and information sites while giving them
the assurance they need to support thousands of Green-rated [i.e.,
Newsguard-approved] news and information sites, big and small.”
At the
time the service was announced last November, Newsguard co-CEO
Brill stated that the company was “in discussions with the ad
tech firms, leading agencies, and major advertisers” eager to
adopt a blacklist of news sites deemed “unreliable” by
Newsguard. This is unsurprising given the leading role of the
Publicis Groupe, one of the world’s largest advertising and
PR firms, has in funding Newsguard. As a consequence, it seems
likely that many, if not all, of Publicis’ client companies
will choose to adopt this blacklist to help crush many of the news
sites that are unafraid to hold them accountable.
It is
also important to note here that Google’s connection to Publicis
and thus Newsguard could spell trouble for independent news
pages that rely on Google Adsense for some or all of their ad-based
revenue. Google Adsense has long been targeting sites like
MintPress by demonetizing articles for
information or photographs it deemed controversial, including
demonetizing one article for including a photo showing U.S. soldiers
involved in torturing Iraqi detainees at the infamous Abu Ghraib
prison.
Since
then, Google — a U.S. military contractor — has repeatedly tried
to shutter ad access to MintPress articles that involve
reporting that is critical of U.S. empire and military expansion. One
article that has been repeatedly flagged by Google details how many
African-Americans have questioned whether the Women’s March has
aided or harmed the advancement of African-Americans in the United
States. Google has repeatedly claimed that the article, which was
written by African-American author and former Washington Post
bureau chief Jon Jeter, contains “dangerous content.”
Given
Google’s already established practice of targeting factual
reporting it deemed controversial through Adsense, Brandguard
will likely offer the tech giant just the excuse it needs to cut off
sites like MintPress, and other pages equally critical of
empire, altogether.
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