Google and YouTube removed over 300 Trump campaign ads

12/2/2019

On Sunday evening 60 Minutes reported that Google and YouTube removed over 300 ads from the Trump campaign, mostly over last summer.

60 Minutes reviewed the Google archive to look into the ads they removed. They found that over 300 video ads were taken down by Google and YouTube, mostly over the summer, for violating company ad policies. The problem is that the archive does not actually clarify what Google policies were violated by these ads.

CBS reporter Stahl told YouTube’s Wojcicki that many conservatives believe they are targeted on YouTube and Wojcicki responded:

“Well, first of all there are lots of very successful conservative creators on YouTube… Our systems, our algorithms, they don’t have any concept of understanding what’s a Democrat, what’s a Republican. They don’t have any concept of political bias built into them in any way. And we do hear this criticism from all sides. We also have people who come from more liberal backgrounds who complain about discrimination. And so I think that no matter who you are, we are trying to enforce our policies in a consistent way for everybody.”