Back in November, Google announced that its advertising tools will soon be closed to websites that promote fake news, a policy that could cut off revenue streams for publications that peddle hoaxes on platforms like Facebook. The decision comes at a critical time for the tech industry, whose key players have come under fire for not taking necessary steps to prevent fake news from proliferating across the web during the 2016 U.S. election. It’s thought that, given the viral aspects of fake news, social networks and search engines were gamed by partisan bad actors intending to influence the outcome of the race.
However, Newslo.com, the first ever hybrid news/satire platform on the web, has decided to take issue with Google’s announced ban; so much so, in fact, that it’s considering a lawsuit against Google on the grounds of “hypocrisy.” “We are disgusted by what Google is trying to do to satire and other fake news sites across the Internet,” Newslo’s legal team told CNN.
“This is clearly an act of aggression against all those whose creativity and unconventional ways of earning revenue aren’t either owned by or at least partially owed to Google. Because, what is Google, at the end of the day? It’s a monopoly. No, scratch that – alongside other major players in the web world, which there are very few, we’re talking about an oligopoly. And that is unethical, to say the least,” they said.
The satire site’s legal team also argued that the reason for the probable lawsuit was the fact that “Google, Inc. is a hypocritical, multi-billion-dollar enterprise planning to enforce a so-called ‘ban on fake news and facts,’ when in reality, they still allow hundreds of millions of people from the world over to refer to the Bible as a ‘reliable source of information.’”
“How is that ethically, morally, legally – or by any other criteria in existence – justified?” the representatives of the team inquired. “It’s like having a Goliath on one end of the playing field, who’s accumulated enough power and strength that he’s able to pretty much do as he pleases with the field and everything and everyone on it, and on the other, there’s David with a slingshot so puny that he could barely hit the giant’s nostril, let alone do more serious damage. Totally unfair to the little guy.”
“And that’s why we’re planning on going forward with the lawsuit, because we refuse to bow down to the will of money and market shares,” the team said. “The thing is – if you’re smart/nerdy/intelligent/genius/wunderkind-enough, Google recruits you on the spot and that’s the end of competition in its true form. Yet, as soon as someone emerges who’s creative enough to take away a crumb or two of the big pie from them, they immediately enact bans and laws and regulations intended to crush any semblance of competition.”
“That’s not how capitalism is supposed to work and it’s not how the game is played. After all – they invented it; so, they should be up to speed on the rules. We’re not backing down. Remember – in the very Bible they so adamantly continue to propagate to millions of web users daily, David beat Goliath. And we’ll do our best to make sure the same happens to them, as well,” Newslo’s legal team concluded.
