Neither Townhall nor its loyal readers are unfamiliar with Big Tech's efforts to suppress, silence, or ban conservatives. Perhaps the most notable example in relatively recent memory saw an all-out attempt to keep Americans from learning about Hunter Biden's laptop and its sordid contents just before the 2020 presidential election.
But now, almost four years later — and despite significant blowback to such censorship and scrutiny from lawmakers — very little has changed.
Instead of the blatant censorship seen in their handling of Hunter Biden's laptop, the tech overlords are using quieter, but no less nefarious, means to try silencing outlets such as Townhall and the truth-telling reporting you count on. Not just on specific stories of national interest, but altogether.
Google advertising, which Townhall uses to generate revenue from visits to our site, slaps labels ranging from "dangerous and derogatory" to "unreliable and harmful" on the stories, columns, and videos we post to deny serving ads and keep us from earning money on those visits.
Since last August, more than 130 stories, columns, and videos we've published have been dinged by Google. In addition to robbing Townhall of the revenue that would normally be generated by that content, getting flagged lowers Townhall's domain score with each new punishment, meaning we make less per visit, even on stories that aren't flagged, as the overall quality of ads visitors see worsens.
In short, Google wants to silence us and ultimately put us out of business for the crime of reporting the truth, publishing conservative voices, and daring to counter the preferred Democrat narrative. Even VIP stories are flagged by Google. These additional and entirely unnecessary shots across our bow remind us that Google is always watching what we publish, even when it's behind the paywall.
Google doesn't want us to report on climate change alarmism, the transgender movement that seeks to nuke biology and erase women, election integrity, the deadly consequences of Biden's border crisis, or the sacred cows of COVID "science." These are all untouchable in Google's view if you engage in "wrongspeak" that contradicts the framing and "facts" conjured up by the left.
Here are just a few examples of the stories Google has deemed too dangerous to publish:
- Lawsuit Targets Mississippi Policy Allowing Mail Votes to Be Counted After Election Day
- Largest-Ever COVID Vaccine Study Finds What Many of Us Already Suspected
- VIDEO: Dem Voter Explains Why She's Switching Sides in 2024
- Will the Democrats Let Donald Trump Be President If He Wins?
We've faced harassment from Big Tech before, but never this existentially. Still, we ultimately have the upper hand thanks to a strength-in-numbers advantage we, the sane, have over leftist, Big Tech censors.
The only way to insulate ourselves from Google's attempts to cut off ad revenue is through direct support from our VIP members who know how important reporting the truth is and want to join us in telling Google and the cabal of leftist intolerance to — in the words of Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana — "stick it up their fact-checker."
Townhall VIP members are partners and compatriots with us in the vital work of telling the stories Democrats want buried. Their direct support means we no longer have to suffer when Google flags and demonetizes us for being "dangerous" and 'harmful" for reporting the truth. But we need more of our loyal readers to join us in this fight if we’re going to win.
For a limited time, to bring more of you aboard as partners in our truth-telling reporting, we're offering 50 percent off an annual VIP membership, bringing the cost down to less than seven cents a day. Use promo code BIGTECH at checkout.
To those who are already among the ranks of VIP members, thank you for helping us show Google its attempts to silence us won't work. We quite literally could not do this without you.