Row over alleged Google censorship of anti-Clinton book campaign
13 June 2005
Google has reportedly banned a series of previously approved adverts for a new book that alleges that the Clintons abused their power during Bill Clinton's term of office.
World Ahead, a conservative book publisher, claims the search giant rejected an advert for the book, which criticises Bill and Hillary Clinton, while continuing to accept adverts for anti-Bush publications.
Eric Jackson, CEO of World Ahead, has declared that his ads for "Their Lives: The Women Targeted by the Clinton Machine" were rejected due to "unacceptable content".
Candice E Jackson, the author, said: "Google's decision to reverse its prior approval and shut down this banner ad campaign reeks of political bias. The company's liberal leanings are pretty widely known, but this example of blatant editorial censorship is still shocking."
Mr Jackson insists that Google's online ad guidelines make no mention of political content being disallowed and points out that the company continues to run ads for overtly liberal advertisers with headlines such as "Hate Bush? So Do We," and "George W Bush fart doll".
The publisher said that the ads for the anti-Clinton book simply featured images of the book's cover and pictures of the former first couple.
According to WorldDailyNet, 98 per cent of all political donations by Google employees went to support Democrats and Google CEO Eric Schmidt gave the maximum legal limit of donations to Democratic presidential nominee Senator John Kerry and Senator Clinton.
Google denied the accusations of bias claiming that its policies prohibit adverts against an individual. The company is increasingly coming under fire from conservative organisations accusing it of favouring Democratic ideals.
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